Ruby's Wish

The title of the book is Ruby’s Wish. It’s written by Shirin Yim Bridges and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Age range 5-8 years and published on July 28^th 2002.

This book is a true story about the author’s grandmother. It’s about a young girl living in old China in a wealthy home. Her only wish is to go to a University. She doesn’t want to only learn to cook and clean like all girls, she wants to go away to school like all of the boys. This is the story of how her wealthy (from California Gold Rush) Grandfather helps her get her wish.

I found the illustrations in this book very accurate. They do not seem stereotypical. This book is about an old Chinese family so all of the people are wearing traditional Chinese clothing and have slanted eyes. Also, this book is set in “Old China” so it doesn’t show current cultures and situations. The tokenism I saw was all of the children and adults have the same looking faces. This could be accurate, but it is noticeable to the reader. Also the active doer in this book is the grandfather. He is the one who came back from the gold rush wealthy. He is the one who had many wives, many children and a large house with a personal teacher. He is also the one who gave her an acceptance letter to a University for her Chinese New Year gift. But Ruby could also be considered an active doer in the story because she was always learning all she could and stayed up late many nights catching up on her embroidery.

The role of women, or in this case Ruby, definitely comes into play in this story. While all of the other girls were dropping their classes Ruby continued to take the education classes with the boys and the cooking and cleaning classes with the girls. Her achievements relied on her own personal initiative and drive.

Sex roles are incidental in this story because Ruby being a girl in a culture and time where no girls went to school was the main focus of the plot. Ruby ended up becoming the first female to go to a University in China.

Both sexes are not portrayed in nurturing roles for their family because of the time this book is placed. The grandpa is the power in the house because he is the one with the money and all the wives.

In this story there is no variety of different races. This whole book is about this particular Chinese family. After a child reads this they might not even apply to their own lives unless they are Chinese or Asian. There are no other skin colors throughout the book besides white. Some children reading this may think that being another color is bad and that anyone of color may not be able to achieve anything of significance. But the main character is strong and very ambitious.

The author writing this book may be inclined to strengthen Ruby’s character because it was her grandma. Also, I’m sure it was her grandma who was telling her the story so it might have actually happened a bit differently. There might have been more struggles for Ruby.

I found this book a wonderful read. I read it through a few times and didn’t find many stereotypes or racism. There are things that bothered me because of the time it was placed in. (Like Ruby not being allowed to attend University.) But times have changed so that type of sexist behavior in minimal in this day and age.

Does their representation include significant specific cultural information? Or does it follow stereotypes?

This book doesn’t have many cultural details but it does show some cultural aspects from Old China.

Who has the power in this story? What is the nature of their power, and how do they use it?

In this story Ruby’s grandfather has the power and uses it for good to help his family lead better lives.

How is language used to create images of people of a particular group? How are artistic elements used to create those images?

Language isn’t really used to represent the Chinese people but in the story they do show Chinese calligraphy.

Who has written this story? Who has illustrated it? Are they inside or outside the groups they are presenting? What are they in a position to know? What do they claim to know?

The writer of the story is the granddaughter of the main character in her story. I’m not sure about the author. I know that the writer is on the inside of the group they are representing. She knows from hearing from her grandmother.

Whose voices are heard? Whose are missing?

The grandfather and Ruby were the only voices in the story. The mother and teachers and other children’s voices were absent.

Analyze the storyline.  How are problems presented and resolved?

The problem is that Ruby has a dream to go to University but sees no hope because girls in her culture were not allowed to go; it was resolved by her grandfather sending her application and presenting her with her acceptance letter as a wonderful New Years present.

Would you recommend this book?  Why or why not?

I would highly recommend this book; it is a wonderful story for every age about strength and shows that dreams can come true.