Ruby Lost and Found by Christina Li
Life has been tough for 13-year-old Ruby Chu since her grandfather (Ye-Ye) died. After she gets in trouble at school, her parents send her to help her grandmother (Nai-Nai), who is also adjusting to Ye-Ye’s death.
Though Ruby’s summer is looking dismal hanging out at the senior center with Nai-Nai’s friends and a new boy at her school, she manages to have a good time while developing her relationship with Nai-Nai.
But when a local Chinatown bakery is at risk of being closed down and Nai-Nai has a life-altering secret, Ruby is wondering if she can really find herself in the middle of her grief or if she’ll be lost for good.
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LJR’s Thoughts for Ruby Lost and Found
Ruby Lost and Found is a sweet middle-grade novel overall. Ruby deals with grief after her Ye-Ye dies but also about things changing around her. She learns who real friends are and aren’t. Despite mention of crushes a couple of times, it’s not a major plot line.
Bad behavior is dealt with in the end but not for most of the book. In addition, the same-sex crush and the use of the Lord’s name are not seen in a negative light.
For these reasons, we caution parents and suggest the recommended age of 12+ with caution and some great sit-down conversations.
Overall Rating: 3.25 out of 5
Christian Morals/Values: 2.5 out of 5
Story: 4.5 out of 5
Read-Aloud Value: 1.5 out of 5
Discussion Value: 4.5 out of 5
Recommended Post: The Vanderbeekers On the Road by Karina Yan Glaser
Considerations for Ruby Lost and Found
In our usual LJR fashion, we try to find anything that Christian families may want to know about ahead of time to address, skip, or dig deeper into. Take a look at what we found below. Our take on Discipleship Opportunities is at the bottom of the review.
- Positive Behavior: characters take care of authority figures, apologies for misbehavior, and becoming friends with kids who are new
- Negative Behavior: character mentioned to sneak out of the house and lies to authority figures; a character skips school; speaking disrespectfully to authority figure; playing pranks at a sleepover and truth or dare; Ruby’s parents are grieving but come across aloof instead of compassionate toward their other family members
- Language: “Oh my G–” (2x); “ohmygoshitsyou”; “sucks butt”
- Violence/Intense Scenes: none
- Religion/Spirituality: mention of zodiac sign;
- Racism/Discrimination: none
- Romance/Sexuality: mention of a girl having a crush on a girl and treated as normal; other crushes are mentioned between pre-teens/young teens
- Substance Usage: none
Discipleship Opportunities
- When Ruby lashes out at a friend and then learns a little more about the friend she learns what it looks like to think of others above herself. Philippians 2:3
- Ruby judges a friend’s intentions and makes accusations without knowing for sure. Romans 2:1-3
- There is mention of “trusting your gut.” Better known as intuition, this article by gotquestions.org is great for digging into God-given intuition.
- A character sees a butterfly and mentions a dead loved one wanted to say ‘hi.’ The Bible is clear about communication with the dead (and their communication with us). Start with these verses: 1 Samuel 28, Deuteronomy 18:11, and Luke 16.
- The subject of what the Bible says about homosexuality can make for a touchy conversation, especially in light of people who claim a the Bible was changed and didn’t really say it was a sin. However, this article is a great first read for seeing the Bible is clear about this topic but also for understanding a little more and hopefully leading with compassion.
- Honoring your father and mother (Ephesians 6:1-2) as well as other authority figures (1 Peter 2:17).
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