Love, Ruby Lavender
by Deborah Wiles

"A timeless story of the bond between grandparent and grandchild."
—Booklist

"This small comic novel makes good use of a lot of chickens."
—The New York Times Book Review

"A lively, humorous story."
—Starred review, School Library Journal

"Good garden of peas! It's hard to imagine a better book for audio narration than this charming, funny, and deeply touching novel." —Starred review, AudioFile

Ruby Lavender used to have a good life. She and her grandmother, Miss Eula, were inseparable—they even drove the getaway car together to rescue chickens from Peterson's Egg Ranch! But this summer, Miss Eula will be in Hawaii, and Ruby's sure it'll be a lonely, empty, horrible season without her. What happens instead?

Love, Ruby Lavender is the story about nine-year-old Ruby Garnet Lavender and her relationship with her wacky grandmother, Miss Eula, in Halleluia, Mississippi (Population: 400 Good Friendly Folks And A Few Old Soreheads). It's also about three (stolen) unruly chickens, the town bully, the town operetta, a death in the family, friendship, laughter, grief …

A novel for ages 8-12. Cover art by the amazing Marla Frazee.

     Awards

• An American Library Association Notable Book for Children
• An NCTE Notable Book in the Language Arts
• A Booksense '76 Pick
• A Capitol Choices Noteworthy Book for Children
• One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing, New York Public Library
• Children's Literature Choice List
• Parent's Guide Children's Media Award
  Nominated for SEBA's best children's book of the year
• Nominated for a total of 26 state book awards including the Vermont Student book award, the Rhode Island Student book award, the North Carolina Children's Book Award, the Massachusetts Children's Book Award, the New Hampshire "Great Stoneface" Children's Book Award, the Utah Children's Book Award, the Kansas William Allen White Children's Book Award, the Oklahoma Sequoyah Children's Book Award, the Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award, the Indiana Young Hoosiers Book Award List, the Connecticut Nutmeg Children’s Book Award, the Virginia Young Readers Program, Minnesota Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award, the Tennessee Volunteer State reading list, and the California Young Reader Medal. Whew! And hooray!

         British Edition

   German Edition

An Interview with Deborah Wiles,
by Ruby Garnet Lavender

Ruby Lavender (RL): Hello, Deborah Wiles. I have chosen you for my author interview school project. The problem is, I can't find information about you in the library, so I am wondering if this means you are not too interesting. (You would fit right in, here in Halleluiah, Mississippi.) Maybe I should have chosen someone else …

Deborah Wiles (DW): Hi, Ruby! I'm glad you chose me. I'm sorry you haven't been able to find much information. That's because Love, Ruby Lavender is my first novel. I am a new author, but I have been writing and telling my story for many years. RUBY is part of my story.

RL: YOUR story? I thought it was MY story! I mean, you don't live in The Pink Palace, and you don't have a chicken named Bemmie…. Do you?

DW: It's your story, of course, and I don't have a chicken, but I had a wacky grandmother named Eula, and she lived in a little Mississippi town, and I visited her there every summer. There was a town store, owned by Mr. Jeff, who always gave me lemon drops. My Aunt Mitt had a beautiful flower garden, and my great-grandmother, Nanny, had the world's best vegetable garden. The postmistress really was named Dot. And… I had great-great aunts named Bess and Bemmie!

RL: You turned your AUNTS into CHICKENS?

Click here for the full Reading Group Guide, which includes questions for discussion, things to do, and Ruby's complete interview.