Ruby Redfort Look Into My Eyes

by Lauren Child, Lauren Child (Illustrator)

Overview

"Sardonic narration will grab readers from the get-go, and puzzles laced throughout will intrigue those who share Ruby’s passion for solving mysteries." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Everyone knows that Clarice Bean is exceptionordinarily keen on the Ruby Redfort books. In her own starring role, Ruby, a genius code-cracker and daring detective, and her sidekick butler, Hitch, work for a secret crime-busting organization called Spectrum. Ruby gets into lots of scrapes with evil villains, but she's always ice-cool in a crisis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536200478
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	05/08/2018
Series:	Ruby Redfort Series
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.37(w) x 7.31(h) x (d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Lauren Child is the best-selling author and illustrator of the picture books about Charlie and Lola (who also star in their own TV series) as well as the series of award-winning books about the irrepressible Clarice Bean, where the character of Ruby Redfort was first introduced. Since then she has been inundated with letters from fans asking for Ruby Redfort novels, so to all those fans?—?here it is! Lauren Child lives in London.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

In this funny and action-packed first installment of an adventure series from Child, Ruby (who Child’s fans will recognize as her character Clarice Bean’s favorite fictional heroine) quickly becomes bored with her first Spectrum assignment, poring over the files of a code-breaking agent who met an untimely demise. With the help of her sidekick/classmate Clancy Crew, she ventures out from her well-hidden office into more dangerous territory... Child’s sardonic narration will grab readers from the get-go, and puzzles laced throughout will intrigue those who share Ruby’s passion for solving mysteries.
—Publishers Weekly

The detective-heroine of RUBY REDFORT LOOK INTO MY EYES may be small for 13, but she's a prodigy: brilliant, tenacious and observant to an almost Sherlockian degree... As Ruby and her best friend, Clancy Crew (no relation to Nancy Drew, surely) dash about following hunches, they're drawn into a whirl of comedy and menace, espionage and cryptograms, naive townspeople and baleful baddies... Ms. Child's appealing wiseacre tone keeps the mood buoyant throughout, even when it looks as if Ruby herself may be . . . toast.
—The Wall Street Journal

Readers familiar with Child’s Clarice Bean chapter books will be delighted to see Clarice’s mystery- solving hero, Ruby Redfort, star in her own book, a delightful homage to Louise Fitzhugh’s classic HARRIET THE SPY (1964)... This series opener shows much promise, with a swift pace, clever dialogue, and many codes and puzzles scattered throughout. Bold graphics, well-placed chapter breaks, and just enough irony will appeal to middle school readers who grew up with Clarice Bean. Child’s light, bright wit is in fine form here.
—Booklist

Editorial Reviews

As smart and observant as her socialite parents are clueless, junior high student Ruby Redfort has the makings of a top-notch sleuth. But it’s her code-cracking skills that attract the attention of Spectrum, a secret intelligence agency that hires her. In this funny and action-packed first installment of an adventure series from Child, Ruby (who Child’s fans will recognize as her character Clarice Bean’s favorite fictional heroine) quickly becomes bored with her first Spectrum assignment, poring over the files of a code-breaking agent who met an untimely demise. With the help of her sidekick/classmate Clancy Crew, she ventures out from her well-hidden office into more dangerous territory to prevent the theft of a priceless jade Buddha statue. Playing a game of cat and mouse with criminals and fellow agents (who are furious at her for overstepping boundaries), Ruby finds her way into some dire situations, but readers will rest assured that she will find a way to squirm out of enemy hands. Child’s sardonic narration will grab readers from the get-go, and puzzles laced throughout will intrigue those who share Ruby’s passion for solving mysteries. Ages 10–13. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

In this funny and action-packed first installment of an adventure series from Child, Ruby (who Child’s fans will recognize as her character Clarice Bean’s favorite fictional heroine) quickly becomes bored with her first Spectrum assignment, poring over the files of a code-breaking agent who met an untimely demise. With the help of her sidekick/classmate Clancy Crew, she ventures out from her well-hidden office into more dangerous territory... Child’s sardonic narration will grab readers from the get-go, and puzzles laced throughout will intrigue those who share Ruby’s passion for solving mysteries.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The detective-heroine of RUBY REDFORT LOOK INTO MY EYES may be small for 13, but she's a prodigy: brilliant, tenacious and observant to an almost Sherlockian degree... As Ruby and her best friend, Clancy Crew (no relation to Nancy Drew, surely) dash about following hunches, they're drawn into a whirl of comedy and menace, espionage and cryptograms, naive townspeople and baleful baddies... Ms. Child's appealing wiseacre tone keeps the mood buoyant throughout, even when it looks as if Ruby herself may be . . . toast.
—The Wall Street Journal

Readers familiar with Child’s Clarice Bean chapter books will be delighted to see Clarice’s mystery- solving hero, Ruby Redfort, star in her own book, a delightful homage to Louise Fitzhugh’s classic HARRIET THE SPY (1964)... This series opener shows much promise, with a swift pace, clever dialogue, and many codes and puzzles scattered throughout. Bold graphics, well-placed chapter breaks, and just enough irony will appeal to middle school readers who grew up with Clarice Bean. Child’s light, bright wit is in fine form here.
—Booklist

From the Publisher

Middle-schooler Ruby Redfort's socialite parents might have "little going on upstairs in the smarts department," but Ruby herself makes up for their deficits in spades. An ace code cracker who at age seven declined Harvard's offer of admission, Ruby's precocious brilliance brings her to the attention of a super-secret spy agency that needs her assistance in preventing a nefarious heist of the priceless Jade Buddha of Khotan. But despite, or because of, her uncommon intelligence, Ruby is not very good at doing what adults tell her to do. Will she be a match for cold-blooded killer Baby Face Marshall, sly murderess Nine Lives, or the B-movie-actor-turned-master-criminal Count von Viscount? Overlong at close to 400 pages, Child's narrative of Ruby's adventures should appeal to readers who enjoy being in the company of someone who consistently outsmarts all of the adults in her life and who do not mind her constantly cocky condescension. There is plenty of fun watching Ruby decipher bizarre clues, even if much—all?—of the plot strains credulity to the breaking point. Reviewer: Claudia Mills, Ph.D.

Children's Literature - Claudia Mills

Ruby Redfort, the young sleuth in an imagined book series adored by Child's already-established character Clarice Bean, begins her very own series with this lukewarm mystery. The daughter of two clueless but kind socialites, Ruby displays an uncanny talent for observation from an early age. When her family's beloved housekeeper goes missing along with the entire contents of their house, and a likable but unlikely butler appears on the scene, Ruby suspects there is more to the situation than meets the eye. After being tapped by a spy agency called Spectrum to assist in an investigation, Ruby is pulled into the thick of a plot involving a museum exhibit her parents are staging. Character development is eschewed for quirkiness that can be charming, but it wears thin well before this offering winds itself down. Codes and puzzles featured throughout add some spark, and readers with a penchant for ciphers will enjoy working out the messages passed between Ruby and her best friend Clancy--and can visit a tie-in website for clues. However, the purposefully corny tone of Ruby's narrative voice ("Did anyone ever tell you that you can be a royal pain in the derriere?") falls flat. Fizzy style fails to buoy a slow-moving plot. Fans of Child's other works, however, will likely still be interested in checking this one out. (Mystery. 9-14)

Kirkus Reviews