Derrick Barnes is the creator and author of the popular Ruby and the Booker Boys series. The series chronicles the adventures of 8-year-old Ruby Booker and her relationship with her three, talented big brothers: Tyner, Marcellus, and Ro (otherwise known as The Booker Boys).
In Part 2 of Barnes's two-part talk with Read and Rise magazine (www.readandrisemag.net), Barnes talks about what makes his spunky, little heroine so inspiring and engaging to young readers:
Q. What type of adventures and situations will readers find Ruby engaged in when they read your series of stories?
A. In each book, each story, readers will find Ruby using her God-given talents and abilities to solve problems, to speak up and out, or just to be seen. (That girl looooves attention!)
She loves and admires her “neighborhood-superstar” big brothers, but somehow she always finds herself either in competition with them, or trying to undo a bit of mess that one of them may have put her in.
For example, in Book Two, Trivia Queen Third Grade Supreme, Ruby goes head to head in a trivia competition against big brothers Tyner (a 9-year-old prodigy/genius in the sixth grade) and Marcellus (Mr. Do-It-All who always comes in first place in everything).
Trivia is Ruby’s thing, but she’s still intimidated by her brothers, and she worries about her chances of winning. But the series is about a lot more than sibling rivalry. It’s about sibling-, family-, community-, and most of all, self-love.
Q. Why will children want to read, or be read to, about Ruby?
A. Ruby is a risk taker. She’s confident, respectable; she’s a great student at school, and quite possibly the coolest little sister anyone would ever dream of having.
Ruby is independent, and definitely believes in her ideas, dreams, and the pursuit of her goals.
I have made it my point to create positive, strong characters of color, and place them in stories with common themes to which children of all races can relate. It’s important for children to see other kids who may not share their same ethnicity, but have the same victories, successes, concerns, failures, interests, and dreams.
Regardless of gender, ethnicity, or from wherever Ruby Booker fans may come, the universal theme with Scholastic’s latest heroine is positive energy; it shines from her like moonbeams!
Well said, Derrick Barnes! For more information about the Ruby and the Booker Boys series, visit www.scholastic.com.
Learn more about Derrick Barnes at his Web site www.derrickbarnes.com
This is Ms. D! Remember: You never know who's going to join us in discussion about reading, culture, and empowerment through the written word.
Coming soon, we talk with Christine Taylor-Butler, a rising star in the world of children's books and author of To Great-Grandmother's House We Go. This warm family tale is featured in Issue 1 at the Read and Rise magazine site. Check this story out at www.readandrisemag.net!
