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Summary
Summary
When Ruby invites seven stuffed toy guests to Grandma's birthday party, they all answer YES. Max wants to invite his Jellyball Shooter Spider, his Space Cadet, and his Can't-Sit-Up Slug, but Ruby says no. Yet each time Ruby counts the number of places at the table, another guest has mysteriously appeared. Is Ruby having a bad counting day? Or is someone having a little fun with the guest list? One part musical chairs, one part counting trickery, and all parts Max, this hilarious new story is Max and Ruby at their best!
Rosemary Wells is the acclaimed author of more than sixty books for children, including the Max and Ruby books, and Timothy Goes to School , now a PBS animated television series.
Author Notes
Rosemary Wells was born in New York City on January 29, 1943. She studied at the Museum School in Boston. Without her degree, she left school at the age of 19 to get married. She began her career in publishing, working as an art editor and designer first at Allyn and Bacon and later at Macmillan Publishing.
She is an author and illustrator of over 60 books for children and young adults. Her first book was an illustrated edition of Gilbert and Sullivan's I Have a Song to Sing-O. Her other works include Martha's Birthday, The Fog Comes on Little Pig Feet, Unfortunately Harriet, Mary on Horseback, and Timothy Goes to School. She also created the characters of Max and Ruby, Noisy Nora, and Yoko, which are featured in some of her books. She has won numerous awards including a Children's Book Council Award for Noisy Nora in 1974, the Edgar Allan Poe award for two young adult books, Through the Looking Glass and When No One Was Looking, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Shy Charles.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-Ruby is giving a birthday party for Grandma. As usual, she has taken care of all the details, inviting all of the guests without consulting her brother. Max is not at all pleased with the guest list; all of Ruby's favorite dolls are invited, but none of his. When he asks to bring three favorites, his sibling vetoes the idea and thus begins his innocently subversive method of sneaking his friends into the party. Just as Ruby begins to figure out what's happening, the guest of honor knocks at the door and the party crashers are the first to greet her. The colorful mixed-media illustrations are delightful, catching the mischievous rabbit and all his antics. Charming fun and a little counting practice rolled into one.-Be Astengo, Alachua County Library, Gainesville, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Rosemary Wells's popular rabbits return for Bunny Party. This time around, Max and Ruby host a birthday bash for Grandma. But each time Ruby sets the table, Max not only replaces Ruby's guests with his own, he also adds a few more in the process. (Viking, $15.99 32p ages 3-8 ISBN 0-670-03501-7; Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Preschool) Is Ruby having ""a bad counting day,"" or is this Gaslight for toddlers? Ruby and her little brother, Max, are throwing Grandma a birthday party. The table is set; the seven invited stuffed-toy guests are seated; and there are three empty chairs for Ruby, Max, and Grandma. Max wants to invite three of his toys, but Ruby says, ""No, Max...Grandma hates Spiders and Slugs and Space Cadets."" Ruby has everything under control-until she counts the guests at the table. What's going on here? There seems to be one more guest and one less chair. Is Max up to something? Wells's cheery text and festive illustrations featuring her sturdy rabbit children ensure readers will sort out the confusion, though for poor Ruby it takes a little longer. Keeping track of who is where may intrigue young puzzle-lovers, but you don't have to follow the ruse exactly-or, like Max, even know how to count-to be in on the joke. Max's good-natured subterfuge is the real hit of the party. By the time Grandma arrives, Ruby has figured out the problem: ""I have just discovered 3 uninvited guests!"" Luckily, Grandma takes Spiders, Space Cadets, and Slugs in stride. The ending falls a little flat, but that won't put a damper on things for Max and Ruby fans, who will gladly accept this invitation to a good time. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Wells (McDuff Goes to School, below, etc.) must have a secret key not only to the heart of toddlerhood but to the very core of sibling relationships, as she proves once again in her latest Ruby and Max adventure. Older sister Ruby, with her usual imperturbable and implacable direction, has planned a birthday party for Grandma. She's invited all of her dolls and stuffed toys, as well as herself and little brother Max. Max isn't pleased, because there's no room at the table for his Jellyball Shooter Spider, his Ear-Splitter Space Cadet, or his Can't-Sit-Up Slug. So while Ruby lays out the treats, Max does subterfuge: disguising each toy and leading Ruby to believe she is having a bad counting day. Max gets all three of his toys in place just in time for Grandma's arrival, and she is of course delighted by the "three uninvited guests." The mixed-media illustrations are full of panache, from the multicolored numbers that dance above the characters' heads to the precise renderings of kid emotions on those little bunny faces. Max's simper with the Space Cadet and Ruby's discomfiture at the sitting Slug are particularly fine. A party not to be missed. (Picture book. 3-8)
Booklist Review
Ages 3-6. Fans of Wells' 1997 books Bunny Cakes, in which Max makes Grandma a delicious earthworm birthday cake, and Bunny Money, in which he gives her vampire teeth for her birthday, will welcome this story of the birthday party. Once again, Max outwits his bossy older sister, Ruby, and pleases the best grandma in the world. This time, though, there's just too much disorder in pictures and ideas for the target audience. Ruby is adamant about which toy guests (Rapunzel, Tooth Fairy, Walky-Talky Teddy Bear, etc.) to invite to the party. But Max wants his toys there, so he swaps things around: he puts Rapunzel's wig on his Jellyball Shooter Spider (a hilarious portrait) and sits Can't-Sit-Up-Slug in Tooth Fairy's seat. The pictures of the individual toys are a riot, but it's hard to keep straight which toy is where and in what disguise. It's the small rabbit's triumph over his sister's authority that's the real joy. --Hazel Rochman
