Ruby electric : a novel / by Theresa Nelson.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Twelve-year-old Ruby Miller, movie buff and aspiring screen writer, tries to resolve the mysteries surrounding her little brother's stuffed woolly mammoth and their father's five year absence.

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

Chapter 1 Rat-a-tat Pow! Pow! Pow! Rat-a-tat FADE IN: The Vanishing Point, it's called. "The Little Café with the Big Screen Flavor." It might seem familiar. There's a fake Hollywood restaurant for every mini-mall in the San Fernando Valley. This one's right next door to Pagliacci's Rent-a-Clown, all but hidden behind their Bozo banner. A person could pass by and never even know it. That's what has Ruby worried. Her mother gives her a look. "You okay, honey?" Ruby stares at her chopsticks. "Sure." She sinks back in the bamboo seat. Closes her eyes. THE SCREEN GOES BLACK. At first you can hardly hear the tapping. It's only the ghost of a sound. Away off in the dark somewhere, a distant drumming, gradually growing louder: Rat-a-tat POW! POW! POW! FADE IN...slowly... Now you can see it, too. A single hand, sending out Morse code on an old-time telegraph machine: POW! POW! POW! Rat-a-tat Rat-a-tat Now the camera PULLS BACK, showing more of the picture. The hand belongs to a girl. A beautiful girl. A beautiful, blue-eyed, golden-haired girl. No freckles. Quite tall for twelve. (You can tell this right away, even though she's hunched over the machine, tapping with all her might.) TALL GIRL SOS! SOS! Come in! Come in! Don't you hear me? SOS! SOS! Somebody, anybody, please! CUT TO a long shot of a ship in distress. Lights flickering, people shrieking, icy water pouring through the portholes. MOVE IN CLOSER: On the deck (tilted now at a sickening angle) the lifeboats are being lowered. But not enough. Not nearly enough. Any fool can see that. As frantic passengers claw their way toward them, and crew members struggle to keep order, a band of brave musicians plays a lilting melody: Yankee Doodle went to town, Just to ride a pony, Stuck a feather in his cap And called it maca -- "Ruby!" Still the tireless TALL GIRL in the telegraph office pounds out her tortured message: SOS! SOS! Come in, please! Rat-a-tat -- "Ruby!" The ship disappears. The band stops playing. The chopsticks rap out a sharp staccato on the edge of the café table. POW! Rat-a-tat Rat-a -- Pearl Miller reaches across a plate of egg rolls and touches her daughter's wrist. The chopsticks freeze in midair. "Thank you," says Pearl. "Have an egg roll." "No, thanks." "Come on. Just one. They're delicious." Ruby shakes her head. It's a very red head. She squints behind her glasses, trying to change the picture again.... No use. She's still wedged in a half-size corner booth by the window with her mother and her little brother, Pete, still sitting there staring at the pair of them across the soy sauce. "Not much longer," Mama says. "Another five minutes, maybe. We'll give him another five minutes." Mama and Pete are both redheaded too, but otherwise normal-looking. Even somewhat better than normal, in Mama's case. She was almost a beauty queen once. In her younger days back in Texas, she was fourth runner-up for Miss Wichita Falls. Of course she would tell you that's all ancient history; it kind of embarrasses her now. But sometimes Ruby gets chills just thinking how a simple twist of fate might have altered their entire lives. What if the actual winner had been unexpectedly visited by some hideous disfigurement? Attacked by marauding bears, say, during a fun-filled but ultimately tragic vacation in Yellowstone? Would they be sitting here right now if, for any reason, the first, second, and third runners-up had been unable to fulfill their duties? Ice cubes clink. A fat man laughs. A guy with a beard drops his napkin. As for Pete -- well, Pete is Pete, that's all. Freckles are fine when you're six. Ruby, on the other hand, has been twelve and a half all year. "You're sure you're not hungry? You're both bound to be tired. Maybe we ought to -- " "I'm okay, Mom." Ruby's fists (square-shaped, freckles on the otherwise white knuckles) clench around the chopsticks. "We're okay, right, Pete?" "Pete's gone," says Pete. He holds up a ragged woolly mammoth puppet. "I am authorized to take all messages." "Give me a break." "My name is Mammook." "Just another five minutes," says Mama. Ruby looks out the window. Not much there, really. Just a pigeon pecking at a bug on the ledge and the traffic crawling by on Ventura Boulevard and the summer sun setting in a smoggy haze behind the Sizzler across the street. Still, from where Ruby sits, she has a clear view of the sidewalk, so she'll be the first to see him, if he comes. Frankie Miller, that is. Her father. When he comes, that is. Rat-a-tat POW! POW! POW! Rat-a-tat The ship is sinking fast now. Salt water floods the telegraph office. Still, the TALL GIRL refuses to relinquish her post, though she's up to her waist in the stinking brine: SOS! SOS! Rat-a-tat POW! POW! PO -- Pete gives Ruby a nudge in the ribs. "You're doing it again," he whispers. "Shut up, Mammook." She pokes him with a chopstick. Their mother signals the waitress. "Check, please." "No! He's coming. He promised." "It's almost eight o'clock, Ruby. We've been here an hour and a half." "Well, maybe he got lost." "Oh, honey -- " "Maybe he got tied up in traffic or there was an accident or -- " "Are you finished, miss?" asks the waitress, leaning in to take away the egg rolls. "Yes...I mean, no!" Ruby grabs the plate, playing tug of war until she wins, spilling half a bowl of fried rice in Pete's lap. "I'm still eating, okay, Mom? I'm hungry now. See? You're right, these are really good." Mama sighs. She nods at the waitress, who walks away with a shrug. "Five minutes. Tops." Mama shows her watch to Ruby. "Then we're leaving. Got it?" "Got it," says Ruby, her mouth full of stone-cold shrimp, her eyes on the little black second hand, ticking away. Rat-a-tat POW! POW! POW! Rat-a-tat CUT TO a second ship, far from the first. Below deck, a YOUNG NAVAL OFFICER is receiving a telegraph signal. YOUNG OFFICER SOS. SOS? Dear God, not the "Titanic"! He rips the printed page from his telegraph machine and tears out of the office. CUT TO the ship's bow. The CAPTAIN stands at the rail. Square-jawed. Intrepid. A glint of granite in his keen blue eyes. Clearly a man among men. As he gazes out on the moonlit waves, the YOUNG OFFICER comes running. YOUNG OFFICER SOS, sir. From the "Titanic." It's just come in. CAPTAIN Well, what are we waiting for, Lieutenant? Turn the ship around! YOUNG OFFICER Yes, sir. Right away, sir. But -- CAPTAIN But what? Speak up, Lieutenant! We've no time to waste! YOUNG OFFICER But...well, sir...the radar doesn't seem to be working properly, and unless we can re-wire the throckmorton and decode the coleanthus, I'm afraid that -- CAPTAIN Confound it, man, speak plainly! YOUNG OFFICER I'm not sure we can find them, sir. A blue minivan pulls into the Sizzler parking lot. An enormous family climbs out. Six or seven kids and a worn out-looking mother. Last of all comes the father, talking on his cell phone. Trailing after the others, taking his time. He's still deep in conversation when the littlest kid (a tiny girl in a ridiculous pink tutu) turns around and comes skipping back to him. She pulls on his shirt sleeve. He doesn't notice her. She pulls again. Now he looks down and sees her looking up at him, waiting. Ruby figures he'll get mad, but he doesn't seem mad. He smiles and touches the kid's wild curls and signs off on his call. Then he hoists her up on his shoulder and carries her inside. POW! POW! POW! On the doomed ship, the last dim light begins to die. The end is near, but the TALL GIRL isn't crying. You might think she is, but you're wrong, okay? She grits her teeth. She's no crybaby. SOS! SOS! Why didn't we go to the Sizzler? All you can eat and a sign as big as Dallas. "Ruby? It's time." SOS! SOS! Anybody can find the Sizzler.... "We're waiting, Ruby. Don't you hear me?" Don't you hear me? SOS Rat-a-tat Pow. Copyright © 2003 by Theresa Nelson Excerpted from Ruby Electric by Theresa Nelson All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Ruby, a 12-year-old aspiring screenwriter, uses her skills to fabricate heroic scenarios of what happened to her absent father, and also imagines the Los Angeles River restored to its original glory. PW wrote in a starred review, "The threads of the tale twine together in surprising and inventive ways." Ages 10-12. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-8-Living near the concreted Los Angeles River with her mother and little brother, 12-year-old Ruby misses rivers that actually have water in them and her mysteriously absent policeman father. In her mind, he is on secret missions; but, painfully, she is always expecting him to show up anywhere and everywhere. Adding to the busy dialogue in her head are her movie scripts that she wants Spielberg to produce. She must also figure out why her mother refuses to discuss her father and how to gain city support for an art project to cover the river's surface, and come to terms with her mother's new boyfriend. Ironic humor makes for delightful relief from the serious issues. Ruby, the smartest, best-behaved girl in the school, is paired for a school project with two boys, Big Skinny and Mouse, who specialize in armpit "noises" and looking like versions of Dumb and Dumber. Nelson is superb in covering serious topics, but what really centers her work is the amorphous boundaries of nontraditional family and that those boundaries can still encompass great love. Her heroines often search for fading or disappeared father figures, managing to find satisfying substitutes in unexpected ways. Softer edged than The Beggars' Ride (Orchard, 1992) and much funnier, this novel will have wide appeal.-Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Gr. 5-8. Nelson has taken some common themes--disappearing dad, struggling mom, gritty kid taking care of sweet, wise little brother--and created a humorous, compassionate novel with endearing realistic characters. At 12, Ruby Miller's life is on a downward spiral. Her dad has stood her up three times; she unwittingly let the Salvation Army take her little brother Pete's beloved puppet; and she is doing community service with her two arch enemies after being arrested holding a spray paint can. Ruby's only salvation is the screenplay she is writing in her room, in which life always works out for the beautiful, courageous heroine. A spirited redhead who sees her life as a screenplay, she is determined to make a difference, whether it's by reuniting her brother with his puppet, or by becoming the world's youngest famous screenplay writer and the savior of the L.A. River. Ruby's voice is electric, and she is an unforgettable character with courage, a cause, and imagination. --Frances Bradburn Copyright 2003 Booklist

Horn Book Review

(Intermediate) When Ruby Miller, twelve and a half (and, with any luck, a future colleague of Steven Spielberg), is caught with a can of spray paint in front of a graffiti-covered wall, no one seems interested in the truth: she was trying to cover up a stupid poem written--for her--by ""Big Skinny"" Bogart, one half of ""the seventh-grade version of Dumb and Dumber."" Brainy Ruby finds herself sentenced to fifty hours of community service with the two ""giggling hooligans,"" and she can't imagine that any good will come of it. Plus, she has more important things to focus her very-active imagination on, such as the truth about her father. Ruby is convinced Frankie Miller is a top-secret CIA operative--what else would explain ""his sudden disappearance from their lives five years ago, their mother's crazy decision to move [them] to L.A., [and] her flimsy attempts to cover the fact that she's hiding something""? The truth is heartbreakingly less glamorous, as readers will suspect and Ruby painfully discovers. Nelson infuses her cinematic narrative (complete with camera directions) with Ruby's determined idealism. Excerpts from Ruby's screenplay-in-progress are used effectively, as she processes events through her own overwrought fiction. Occasional scenes told from the perspective of supporting characters add another layer of depth. As in the movies, the novel's ending is a happy one--though not the one Ruby would have written. In an emotionally honest performance, Ruby comes to terms with the fact that heroes are as human--and as flawed--as the rest of us. You'll laugh; you'll cry; and when you reach the end of Ruby Electric, you'll want to savor it all over again. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Book Review

A budding screenwriter, full of dreams and longing, finds a place for herself on the edge of the drainage ditch that was once the Los Angeles River. Aside from writing movies, 12-year-old Ruby Miller's primary goal is to find her father, who disappeared from her life five years ago. Her pursuit of her goals is somewhat hampered by the gentle demands of her mother and little brother, and greatly hampered by the unwanted interest shown in her by her two loser classmates, Big Skinny and Mouse. In the way of things Hollywood, plot elements from Ruby, Big Skinny, and Mouse's apprehension for vandalism, little brother Pete's loss of his beloved mammoth puppet, their prissy landlady's determination to clean up her little part of the world, and her mother's new and alarming interest in her podiatrist boss coalesce in a marvelously Andy Rooney-esque climax. Punctuated by snippets of Ruby's scripts, the present-tense narrative positively fizzes with emotion and goodwill. The happy ending is just honest enough not to be pure Hollywood, and thus is all the more satisfying. Thumbs up. (Fiction. 10-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.