Customer Reviews

Rubbaduck And Ruby Roo

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David Lucas' whimsical detailed illustrations and typically surprising colors get this story off to a promising beginning. Ruby Roo, a ragtop doll, and Rubbaduck (you guessed it-- a rubber duck) reside in a large community of other castoff toys.

Unfortunately, the predictable story, impersonal characters, and incongruities between text and illustrations spoil this effort from an award-winning duo. There's nothing wrong about using a familiar motif, but this trickster tale has little wit, and the conclusion just seems convenient rather than surprising. Ruby Roo comes to live with the rubber duck, a character drawn with next to zero personality or emotion. When she eats all the duck's food (for unexplained reasons), Rubbaduck sends her to the market with his best clothes to sell so that he can replant the garden. She goes three times, and each time a trickster monkey trades "magical" items for the food, which she happily brings to the duck. Ruby Roo's facial emotions often don't seem to fit the situation. When the duck discovers that there's no more food, when he "wails" that they can't plant a dancing stick, she has a mildly happy look on her face. It's not that she's incapable of expressing emotion, as she smiles at other times.

The food problem is resolved when the King (there's a King?) arrives abruptly at their door, announcing that there's a pot of gold for anyone who can make the sad Queen laugh. The resourceful but bland duck takes the magic items to the palace (cleverly drawn, though some of the detail will be enjoyed only by watchful adults) where they performed as described by the monkey.

I know this is "just" for toddlers, but toddlers may not identify with the characters or a conclusion better suited to a slightly older audience. (Ruby Roo comments, as they sit some close together on a bench, "I knew things would work out between us, if you gave me a chance!"). They may also have trouble following the slightly chaotic pictures. Still, those illustration--bright, vivid, unusually colored, and looking at times like something "Babes in Toyland" meets the Russian constructivists of the early 20th century--are the highlight of the book. "Halibut Jackson," available here at Amazon.com, shows Lucas' plentiful talents in a much better book.

Ever wonder if there's a retirement center for old, castoff toys? It seems there is, at least in the imagination of British author Hiawyn Oram.

Rubbaduck is one such toy, shall we say a rubber duck who's lost his floating ability? Nonetheless, he lives quite contentedly among other on-in-years toys. He's built a little house, and tends a vegetable patch in which he takes great pride. All is calm and predictable until the day Ruby Roo appears on his doorstep.

Ruby's child has outgrown her, so now what is rag doll to do? Kindhearted Rubbaduck invited her to stay with him until she became acclimated to her new surroundings. Little did he know what an appetite Ruby possessed. She soon ate everything in the cupboards, and even picked all his vegetables and devoured all of them.

Well, that really put Rubbaduck in a bind. He's forced to sell his best coat in order to buy seeds to plant more vegetables. He entrusts this task to Ruby. Major mistake!
Youngsters will thoroughly enjoy the rollicking adventures of Ruby Roo as she tries to right her wrongs.

- Gail Cooke