Ruby Goldberg's Bright Idea

by Anna Humphrey, Vanessa Brantley-Newton (Illustrator)

Overview

Ruby wants first prize at the fifth grade science fair—and she thinks her quirky, creative, Rube Goldberg–esque invention is just the way to get it!

Ten-year-old Ruby Goldberg is determined to win her school science fair and beat her nemesis Dominic Robinson. She’s snagged second place for the last two years, and she’s set on claiming first prize. The only trouble is that Ruby has no ideas. When her grandfather’s beloved basset hound dies, Ruby thinks of the perfect thing that will cheer him up and win her first place—an innovative, state-of-the-art, not-to-be-duplicated Ruby Goldberg invention!

Before long Ruby is so busy working on her idea that she ignores everything else in her life, including her best friend, Penny. And what started out as simple turns into something much more complicated! Can Ruby get her priorities—and the mechanisms of her project—in order before it’s too late?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442480278
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	12/31/2013
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	850L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Anna Humphrey is the author of Rhymes with Stupid and Mission (un)Popular, both novels for teens. Ruby Goldberg’s Bright Idea is her first novel for middle graders. She lives with her husband and kids in Toronto, Ontario.

Vanessa Brantley-Newton is a self-taught artist and has attended both FIT and SVA of New York, where she studied fashion and children’s illustration. Vanessa is the illustrator of A Night Out with Mama by Quvenzhané Wallis, The Youngest Marcher by Cynthia Levinson, Presenting...Tallulah by Tori Spelling, and Early Sunday Morning by Denene Millner, among others. She hopes that when people look at her work, it will make them feel happy in some way, or even reclaim a bit of their childhood.

Read an Excerpt

Ruby Goldberg’s Bright Idea

Editorial Reviews

02/10/2014
Ten-year-old Ruby, named after iconoclastic artist/inventor Rube Goldberg, is determined to take home the gold medal at the school science fair. The top prize has gone to her archenemy, Dominic, for two years running, but this year nothing will stop Ruby, whose love of science is trumped only by her love of winning. Taking inspiration from her namesake, Ruby decides her project will be a Goldberg-style machine designed to help her grandfather, whose beloved dog has died. When Dominic volunteers to help out, Ruby reluctantly accepts, acknowledging that by joining forces, their project will be even stronger. Ruby's single-mindedness veers into selfishness during the collaboration, causing friction with both her best friend Penny and her grandfather. Ruby is brash and witty, even in her most self-absorbed moments, and YA author Humphrey (Rhymes with Cupid) peppers her first middle-grade novel with engaging science facts and Ruby's own insights into her project. Newton's illustrations mesh gracefully with the lightly humorous tone. While Penny is overly earnest, other secondary characters, along with the flawed but endearing Ruby, give the story depth and charm. Ages 8–12. Illustrator's agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-01-04
A Rube Goldberg namesake discovers there's more to life than inventions. Fifth-grader Ruby Goldberg spends more time thinking about elaborate contraptions than about school or the people around her. Determined to win the gold medal that has eluded her in earlier science fairs, she focuses all her attention on the construction of her entry, ignoring her patient best friend's needs and her grieving grandfather's feelings. But there's hope that, like the cartoonist and inventor she was named for, she can become a more well-rounded person. At her father's suggestion, she collaborates with classmate Dominic, a former rival. Working together leads to friendship, and their intricate system for the delivery of a newspaper and slippers is, indeed, an engineering marvel—though she comes to understand it will never replace her grandfather's dog. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite all come together, despite Ruby's appropriately self-centered and sometimes-funny narration. By her own account, Ruby has been supercompetitive for years; her sudden behavior changes are therefore not quite credible. Ruby's inventive mind is interesting, though the actual diagrammed workings of her Tomato-Matic 2000 are sadly opaque (thank goodness the narrative describes it). This middle-grade story of family, friendship and school has all the right elements, but it lacks an ignition spark. (Fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews