Ruby Lost and Found by Christina Li

 

Publisher: Quill Tree Books

On Sale Date: May 16 2023

Pages: 304

I reviewed a review copy from the publisher

Ruby Chu's summer after seventh grade seems to be a different one than previous summers. She ended seventh grade on a bad note; in detention and her best friends seem to have moved her out of their lives for more interesting popular friends. Her busy popular sister is moving out to college and her parents are always very busy with work, work, work. There is no one left to go on scavenger hunts through their hometown, San Francisco's Chinatown, with her after her beloved grandfather Ye-Ye recently passed away, which she is still grieving. And to top it all off and make things even more difficult this summer; because of her school detention, her parents ordered Ruby to spend the summer with her distant grandmother, Nai-Nai in Chinatown to keep an eye on each other. Ruby doesn't really know her Nai-Nai that well, but during the summer with her, she gets to know her sweet and kind grandmother better. A dark shadow is cast upon her stay when is announced by her aunt that her beloved Chinese bakery in Chinatown that has been in the family for decades, is closing down and the property is sold to developers. The bakery was Ruby and Ye-Ye's favorite spot of the scavenger hunts, and Ruby is devastated that she can never go for her favorite pastries there again, and tries to think up a plan to prevent the closing, beside looking after Nai-Nai, who is slowly suffering from beginning dementia and gets forgetfull and lost a few times. Through her summer is different then expected, Ruby finds out there is just more then just her friends who let her down, and what home really means.

This a very good and original middle grade book. I love that the setting is in one of my favorite places on eart, San Francisco's Chinatown. The author doesn't shy away from the actual real life situation with many stores that have been there for decades, are closing down, just like the Chinese bakery of Ruby's aunt. The bond that forms between Ruby and Nai-Nai is soo sweet. They both miss beloved Ye-Ye very much.  Ruby Lost and Found is a moving story about family, grief, and growing up in San Francisco as an Chinese American, and how important it is to find your own community of support system. I loved this book because its is so well writtten, realistic and original. I truly recommend it!!