Lucy Barnard, Ruby and Graham, New Frontier Publishing, September 2020, 28 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781921928758
Ruby and Graham is a picture book story with a lesson about embracing your innate temperament. Graham’s tendency to be sensible and well organised doesn’t seem to win him friends. So, Graham decides to focus on being more fun loving and popular, like Ruby. But without Graham to organise the animals, the woods become messy and chaotic. In the end, Graham helps organise a party and realises that “…you can be sensible and sensational.”
With few words and lovely illustrations, Barnard has told a sweet but relevant and relatable parable, developed the contrasting characters of Ruby and Graham, and conveyed a northern hemisphere autumn wood setting.
The illustrations portray cute and appealing cartoon style badgers, squirrels and other northern hemisphere woods animals. I love the richness in their warm autumn colours of earthy browns, oranges and ochre which are echoes in the autumn scene backdrops. The animals have luscious tales and cute, lively faces, all set against white or soft, background colours. There is a sense of contented busyness and energy in the animals’ actions and movements. The lovely falling autumn leaf pattern of the endpapers reflects the easy movement and the colours of the animals. But the illustrations are not only decorative, they also augment the storytelling by conveying the animals’ facial expressions and body postures and depicting their activity.
I recommend this appealing picture book for 3 – 6 year olds and the adults who read to them. It could be an especially useful parable for little ones who are concerned about being more popular.
Reviewed by Barbara Swartz
