Susan Hill
Zonderkidz (2010)
ISBN 9780310720249
Reviewed by Madison Schlarman (age 4) and Mom for Reader Views (08/10)
Ruby wakes up to a perfect day! The sun is shining the birds are singing and the weather is wonderful for being outdoors. Ruby plans to spend her day with friends but it does not work out. Each of her friends is busy with other things to do. Ruby stays content and enjoys her day because she is never alone, God is always with her. When her day ends and she reflects back on it, she still knows it was a perfect day. It was the perfect day to spend with God.
Madison’s comments:
“It was a perfect day” Ruby said. Ruby’s tummy rumbled. It was a perfect day for breakfast. She went to Fiona Fox, but she couldn’t have breakfast with Ruby. Ruby made herself four pancakes! She got a little tummy ache. She thought, “Checkerboard!” She asked Dan Duck to play. He waddled by. He did not play. The wind blew it away! [Gasp] She rolled down the hill. She asked bunny to roll with her. Bunny said no. She rolled and rolled and rolled and then BUMP at the bottom. A perfect day! She spent it with God. The checkerboard is my favorite part!
Mom’s comments:
“Ruby’s Perfect Day” was a wonderful example and illustration to my daughter of how to be content with what we have and that we are never alone, God is always with us! We were able to read this book multiple times. Each time Madison would tell me the story and laugh and comment on the checkerboard page. She fell in love with Ruby and her friends. It is wonderful to be able to have a book that clearly talks about God in a fun and interactive way. I really enjoyed the setup of this book. The book repeated itself with new characters and new ways to play. Each character was unable to play but Ruby still went on with her day. The repetitiveness easily pointed out the moral of the story and it was not annoying to read. Madison was able to re-read “Ruby’s Perfect Day” to me by memory with almost exact wording on certain pages. It showed me that she was able to capture the information as I was reading to her, and it was sticking. We had gone days in between reads, so she was given ample time to forget the story, yet she did not. I would really suggest these books to parents with young children or emerging readers. They are wonderful.
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