Ruby and the Pen

by David Lawerance, Cherie Dignam (Illustrator)

Overview

Ruby buys a pen that gives her the power to fix all of her problems, only to discover that power comes with its own problems.

Ruby and the Pen is the story of a 12-year-old, cartoon-drawing girl who buys a pen from a mysterious market stall. The pen has a magical power: whatever she draws, happens! Initially the pen protects Ruby from the meanest girls at her new school, but over time the pen’s power becomes dangerous. Soon Ruby faces a difficult choice — the pen or her best friend.

As Ruby struggles to wean herself off the pen, she’s faced with problems galore. Can she foil her headmaster’s evil plan, and save an endangered species of bird in the process, relying on her own talents and working as a team with her friends? Or will she succumb to the pen’s power?

Featuring hilarious illustrations, and with messages about bullying, teamwork and the environment, this is fast-paced, entertaining middle grade fiction that will resonate with kids everywhere. After all, who wouldn’t want to fix all of their problems with the stroke of a pen!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781922539380
Publisher:	Exisle Publishing
Publication date:	08/08/2023
Series:	The Pen Series , #1
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Unlike most children’s authors, David Lawrence started out as a financial analyst! He went from creating profit-and-loss statements to performing stand-up comedy and TV writing, before penning his first book in 2007. Since then, he has written another 12 fun-filled children’s books aimed at engaging reluctant readers. David is passionate about children’s literacy and is a proud Ambassador of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Cherie Dignam has always loved drawing and works in a variety of mediums including coloured pencils and watercolour. However, she is at her happiest with a good old-fashioned dip pen and ink. When she’s not working to keep her pet cat Boris supplied with endless tins of tuna, Cherie creates from her home, a short walk from the beach in sunny Perth, Australia.

Editorial Reviews

2023-04-12
In a wish-fulfillment tale with an allegorical drift from Australia, anything Ruby draws with a certain pen comes true.

The nose-picking headmaster, the sycophantic house mistress, the aptly named teacher Miss Vermin, and her sneering dorm-mate Sasha Sword are all vicious bullies who make life at her new boarding school a misery. So 12-year-old Ruby is thrilled to discover that her new fountain pen is magical. How satisfying it is to draw Sasha with a huge exploding zit and a massive splot of bird poop on her head…and then see both calamities come to pass. Better yet, when Sasha steals the pen, the bees she draws attacking Ruby instead descend on her! So thoroughly does Ruby’s newfound power go to her head, though, that her personality begins to change. Even best friend Faviola is turning away—not from jealousy, Ruby ultimately realizes, but because everything that she draws either hurts someone or makes things worse. But even as she’s making the creditable decision to put the pen away, the discovery that the headmaster is secretly selling a patch of the school’s woodland to be leveled and made into a theme park sparks a desperate, climactically successful search for alternate ways to scupper the scheme. Afterward, though, she’s determined to be rid of the pen—but that’s another story. Dignam’s energetic ink-and-wash illustrations enhance the Roald Dahl–esque hijinks. Ruby reads White; names and illustrations signal diversity in the supporting cast.

An engaging study of power and moral choices. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews