School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Ruby Pepperdine's best friend, Lucy, has accused her of creating a rift in their friendship, and then there's Nero DeNiro, who is causing strange new feelings in her that she doesn't really understand. Ruby finds herself wondering how she let these things happen while she waits for the Bunning Day parade to get underway. As she observes various individuals in the parade and prepares to give her winning essay on Bunning Day, she wonders how she can make everything right with her friends and family. The author delves into the chaotic world of a 12-year-old girl who is dealing with serious issues. The book is both heartwarming and humorous, and narrator Suzy Jackson does an excellent performance of Ruby as well as the various casts of family and friends. It is easy to picture the various characters. This is not a title one would recommend to reluctant readers, but it is one that faces real-life situations head-on, and offers an honest depiction of grief.-Sheila Acosta, San Antonio Public Library (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
The poignancy that characterized Urban's A Crooked Kind of Perfect and Hound Dog True is also present in this novel about wishes and regret. Months after her grandmother's death, 12-year-old Ruby Pepperdine composes a winning essay honoring her New Hampshire town's namesake: Capt. Cornelius Bunning, inventor of the doughnut. Ruby should be ecstatic that she gets to read her essay in front of the whole community on Bunning Day, but her mind is on other things, especially how she didn't listen to her grandmother's final words before she died. Ruby thinks that maybe if she wishes hard enough, "everything will be back to how it is supposed to be," but making a wish the right way is a tricky business. In a story whose winding plot echoes the doughnut shape that fascinates Ruby, Urban traces how Ruby discovers connections among dissimilar phenomena, including the nature of relativity, everyday sounds, and being part of a community. Ruby's large imagination and even bigger heart are beautifully evoked as the sixth-grader finds a way to keep the memory of her grandmother alive. Ages 9-12. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
