Ruby Holler

One of my all-time favorite books to recommend to kids was RUBY HOLLER.
As a librarian, I thought it had everything. I loved to book talk it, read from it, share it.

But that was a while back, as we say. And this is now. Sadly in some ways, I don't always read books just for the sheer enjoyment. I often tear them apart and put them back together to figure out why an author told a story that way or this.

I've probably read RUBY HOLLER at least three times. But I'd never listened to it. Till now.

(True confessions- I don't listen to books that often. This may be the third, ever. The last book I listened to while driving many, many miles to school visits this year was ELEANOR AND PARK. Another true confession. I did not love that book as much as I hoped. I totally didn't get the guy reader of Park's chapters.)

I was a little worried about the Ruby Holler audiobook. Would the story be as amazing as my memory of it? Under my sharp writer eyes, would the writing still sing?

OF COURSE! Hey, it's Sharon Creech. What was I even thinking.

The character nuances. Like Florida telling Dallas he's bossy. (Ha. Who's bossy?)
The character names. Mr. Trepid? Really? Yes, really!

The villains are so very villainous! And yet, Zee turns out to be not who we think he is.

I picked up this audiobook from our public library's Main Library branch. As I was chatting with some of the teachers and kids who'd come to hear me speak there recently, the discs caught a teacher's eye. "Oh, you've got RUBY HOLLER," she said. "My all time favorite book to read aloud."

Well, I'd second that and say it may be my all-time favorite book to HEAR read aloud.
Way to go, Sharon Creech.

And of course, I also checked out the REAL book. Ahem, the print book. So I could go back and re-read my favorite parts, a real disadvantage of an audiobook.