Love, Ruby Lavender

By: Deborah Wiles

Narrated by: Judith Ivey

When Ruby’s grandmother, Miss Eula goes to visit her new grandbaby in Hawaii, Ruby is sure that she will have a lonely, empty, horrible summer without her in boring old Halleluia, Mississippi. What happens instead? She makes a new friend, saves the school play, writes plenty of letters to her favorite (and only) grandmother...and finally learns to stop blaming herself for her grandfather’s death. Not too bad, for a nine-year-old.

©2001 Deborah Wiles (P)2013 Listening Library

Critic reviews

“A lively, humorous story.... Colorful and spirited.” ( School Library Journal)

Childhood Favorite

I grew up on this book. Now I’m listening with my kids. As a Mississippian I adore the charm of the southern accents and humor. Judith Ivey does an amazing job putting this story to life with her voice. This story is important and beautiful for children. It allows them to see how change, tragedy and even bullying can be difficult, but also an opportunity to grow. Just as Ruby matures and learns how to love, forgive and move on, your child can learn how to deal with real issues. Love the depth and charm of Deborah Wile’s writing.

Simply one of the best family stories!

One of the best family stories ever! We've lisstened to this one several times. Great for family road trips!

It was an amazing book

I liked the person saying the book did an amazing job. It was very easy to understand the story.

Drawn In

What a wonderful, heartfelt story! From the beginning to the end. you are drawn in.

The story is great but the narration is borderline unbearable

I love this story. The characters, the setting, the conflict. But why, oh why did they choose the narrator they did? The accent is so incredibly distracting. I get it takes place in the country, but even at the most dramatic moment in the story it's hard to keep from laughing because everyone sounds like a hillbilly stereotype.

Wonderful slice of life story

We have grown to love listening to Deborah Wiley - her other story Every Little Bird that Sings was equally a wonderful story about growing up in a small southern town. I'm not sure who liked this story more... myself or my 7 or 9 year old daughters! And simply excellent narration.

Stellar

Excellent, sweet story. Funny narration. My kids from 3-10 loved it, and so did I.

A great read for adolecents to young adults

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I highly recommend this lighthearted story that keeps you engaged until the end.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ruby is the star and my favorite character because she reminds me of myself at that age. Ruby and I both believe injustice is not to be tolerated, therefore, we are moved to action.

What about Judith Ivey’s performance did you like?

Ivey's performance was well paced and gives us a shining example of inflection and fluency for struggling readers to immulate.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This story made me laugh out loud, again and again, it's a fun read and even more fun as performed by Judith Ivey.

Any additional comments?

Love, Ruby Lavender does not take a lot of time to finish, I read the book in approx. two hours. Using Audible, tweens and teens can easily pause and pick-up where they left off, but I doubt they will stop listening until the very end.