Independent Reading Level: Grade 3-7
Honors/Awards: 2003 Amelia Bloomer Project/ALA Recommended Feminist Books for Youth;
2003 Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award;
2003 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award;
Publishers Weekly, Best Children’s Books;
“Best Books of 2003,” Arne Nixon Center for Children’s Literature;
Bookbuilders West Certificate of Excellence

Rubys Wish was a book that really interested me because it talks about a young girl who wants to break the stereotypical norms of not being able to go to college. We see rubys adventure and how she finally is the first girl to ever attend college.

Ruby loves the color red, in China it means good luck and prosperity. Ruby however, feels the complete opposite. She was born in old China where education was only for boys and girls belongs in the kitchen or taking care of the babies. Ruby does not want this life and dreams about going off to university. Ruby's grandfather admires her for her efforts and encourages her to study as best she can.
The author not only captures the Chinese culture but emphasizes the power of education, mixing in both the life of a young Chinese girl and her seemingly unreachable dreams. ( )

Picked this up because it was illustrated by Sophie Blackall, but in a very different style than her other books (Finding Winnie, Hello Lighthouse, If You Come to Earth). Ruby is the granddaughter of a Chinese man who got rich in the California Gold Rush and then returned to China and married many wives. Their sons also married many wives, and all the children lives together in a family compound. Unusually for that time, the girls could be educated alongside the boys, and Ruby loved learning and writing. Her beautiful calligraphy and, later, a poem she wrote caught her grandfather's attention, and he sent her to university, where she was one of their first female students. "So that's how Ruby got her wish. It's a true story. And how do I know this? Well, Ruby is my grandmother, and every day she still wears a little red." ( )

Ruby is a trailblazer. In a family of about 100 grandchildren, she was not satisfied with what was typical of the women in her culture. Women got married off. Men went to University. She was given the opportunity to learn to read and write, but that wasn't enough for her- she had dreams of going to University. On New Years, when she would typically be gifted money, she was gifted with her life's wish. ( )