Ruby Tuesday by Jennifer Anne Kogler

From the Publisher

Ruby Tuesday's life just got a little bit crazier.

When a murder in the family exposes some unexpected secrets, Ruby Tuesday has to leave her parents' O.C. beach house for a life-or-death road trip to Vegas. Her mom's closest friends are rock stars and her father is a professional gambler, but neither of them has prepared Ruby Tuesday for what's waiting in Nevada. Ruby needs a crash course, and she's about to get one, straight from the queen of hearts.

Publishers Weekly

The risque world of this first novel-big-time sports betting and casino gambling-sets it apart. As the story opens, 13-year-old Ruby Tuesday (named for the Rolling Stones song), has not figured out yet what everyone else in her ritzy hometown of Laguna Heights, Calif., knows: her father, Hollis, is a professional gambler. When Hollis's bookie is murdered, her father is the prime suspect. Ruby's mostly absent mother whisks Ruby away to Las Vegas where they meet up with Nana Sue, Hollis's card-shark mother, who lives in a hotel with her pet iguana Twenty-one, knocking back bourbon. Ruby learns that her father secretly placed a "winter book" bet on the outcome of the 1988 World Series at 40-to-1 odds-yielding a $2 million winning ticket. And the Vegas rumor mill has churned up Larry and Hollis's involvement. A long set-up (Hollis slices off his finger at Ruby's brother's wedding while listening to Game One of the Series) and Ruby's act of revenge on a classmate stall the plot's pacing. But Ruby's adventures-winning at blackjack with her grandmother, chugging Johnny Walker with her mom, meeting a rock star-may attract readers only slightly younger than the author herself, who began this novel as her senior college thesis. Ages 12-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Amie Rose Rotruck - Children's Literature

Ruby has always been aware that her life is different that the average girl's; it is so different that she needs a dictionary to look up the terms that her dad uses: "parlay, spread, bookie." On the day of her brother's wedding, her dad hits the big time win. When Ruby's "Uncle" Jack turns up dead, though, her father is the prime suspect and he sends Ruby away with her rarely-present mother Darlene. Ruby and Darlene travel to Vegas where they meet up with her Nana Sue, a fixture at one of the casinos. During the journey, Ruby finally puts all the pieces of her father's life as a bookie together and begins to develop a relationship with her mother. When Ruby returns to her home, her dad is facing murder charges, a family member dies, and Ruby finally knows the truth about her unusual family. This touching novel delves into family relationships that are both unconventional and typical. Ruby's physical and emotional journey is one that any teenager will enjoy following. 2005, HarperCollins, Ages 12 up.

Jane Chen, Teen Reviewer - VOYA

The idea and plot for this book is new and exciting. It is realistic in a way that makes it easy to connect with Ruby as she tries to figure out her gambling family. Kogler's characters are entertaining, captivating, and in general, fun to read about. The story has a light, carefree air despite the fact that the plot is definitely not. The book is a page-turner and kept my attention the whole time. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P M J (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2005, HarperCollins, 320p., and PLB Ages 11 to 15.

KLIATT

To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, March 2005: Another excellent first novel, this one began as the author's senior thesis when she was at Princeton University as an English major. The unusual, memorable characters include Ruby Tuesday, her parents Hollis and Darlene, her grandmother Nana Sue, and an assortment of secondary characters the reader will remember as well. Ruby is only 13 years old, but she is brilliant, as is everyone in her family. Her road trip with Darlene from the California coast to Las Vegas to cash in a $2 million winning ticket on a bet after the Dodgers win the World Series will appeal to any reader of whatever age. Ruby and Hollis have had a stable home life, with Hollis a nurturing parent busy figuring the odds on games—on the weekends he watches multiple TV screens, following the action and adjusting the odds. Darlene is mostly away, but she comes home to protect Ruby when Hollis is accused of murdering the bookie he works with. The mob is after them, because they want the money. Nana Sue, Hollis's mother who has been a lifelong gambler, lives in a hotel in Las Vegas and has many connections there. It is she who orchestrates the cashing in of the ticket and the exonerating of Hollis. What makes this story so much fun, along with these flamboyant characters, are the wonderful descriptions Kosler creates with her writing: the opening scene of the wedding of Ruby's older brother on the beach during the crucial world series; the Open House at school, yikes!; going backstage with Darlene at a rock concert and finding out her mother is an insider there—a successful writer of rock songs; Ruby and Nana Sue (and her pet iguana Twenty-One) playingblackjack at the casino, and on and on—each scene is mind-bending. Recommended highly for fun and adventurous reading.

School Library Journal

Gr 8-10-Ruby Tuesday Sweet learns about her quirky family during the fall of 1988 when she is 13. Devotion to the L.A. Dodgers is as close as the Sweets get to a religion. Hollis, her father, takes care of Ruby, since her mother, Darlene, prefers cigars, Johnnie Walker, and the Rolling Stones to the responsibility of parenthood. He accidentally amputates his own finger while listening clandestinely to a Dodgers game during his son's oh-so-California beach wedding. Nana Sue is possibly the most unconventional grandmother to hit the pages of middle-grade fiction. She's a tough-talking, hard-drinking, hard-smoking gambler who lives in Las Vegas with her leashed pet iguana. When Ruby's "Uncle" Larry is found murdered and Hollis is arrested for the crime, Ruby learns that her father's work behind the closed doors of his office full of television sets is illegal. He is a handicapper; Larry was his bookie. Darlene roars into town to take Ruby to her grandmother's in Las Vegas, and the adventure begins. The Sweets are a family who put the "fun" into dysfunctional; not much seems to be off limits to them. The humor is a bit dark and edgy. Kids may be as lost as Ruby with the gambling lingo, but appreciate, as she does, all the baseball talk and history. Amid the murder and mayhem, Ruby is an endearing narrator, more mature than the adults whom she so wryly observes around her.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Thirteen-year-old Ruby Tuesday has been fascinated by the mysterious world of her parents from an early age. She has been recording her father's unusual vocabulary-"exactas," "hedging," "spreads"-in a discarded library dictionary given to her by her mother, who left the family to follow the rock 'n' roll circuit. When her father's friend (and bookie) Larry is found murdered, however, Ruby begins to piece together these puzzles on a road trip she and her mother take to Las Vegas to spend some time with her bourbon-soaked grandmother, who lives in a casino with an iguana named Twenty-One. This first novel is full of amusing detail, snappy dialogue and Technicolor characters, but it is rather less well supplied with discipline. Both the road trip and the return are a little too long, and a little too replete with "significant" conversations. These flaws, however, will not keep readers from identifying with Ruby Tuesday, who in somewhat exaggerated form is going through what all teens do. Her voice is only just wise enough, and her outlook is refreshingly childlike as she struggles to understand her parents and, therefore, herself. (Fiction. 12-15)

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