Ruby Redfort, Pick Your Poison, published in 2017, is by the writer and illustrator Lauren Child. It is a very exciting book that leaves readers hanging. Starting with a flashback, the book then slowly adds suspense. Then, the book ends, leaving you with a question: why? Publishers Weekly describes this book as “Funny and action-packed.”
The book is about a girl named Ruby Redfort. She’s a 13 year old spy who works for an agency called Spectrum. Other than the people in Spectrum or any villains out there, no one knows about this agency other than Clancy Crew, a loyal companion of Ruby. In the book, she follows a series of clues to find out some vital information: there is a double agent in Spectrum. Also, the Count, an evil mastermind, is working for someone, and the Count betrayed that someone, and that someone wanted Ruby dead. In addition, LB, the boss of Spectrum, killed Bradley Baker, a very talented Spectrum spy.
This book grabs the reader’s attention and doesn’t let go. The beginning starts with a scene from Snow White, where the queen prepares the poisonous apple for Snow White. This part is well crafted because it ties to the rest of the book, which is mainly about people getting poisoned. After the excerpt, the book includes a flashback of Ruby. Little Ruby was walking on the path when a tornado came. Then, she hid in a pile of heavy boulders. She was bitten by a snake, but she remembered important details about the snake, which helped the doctors identify the snake and cure her properly. This is a good beginning because in one of the sections, Clancy was bitten by a snake. After her snake experience, Ruby decided to learn snake types, knowing it would come in handy. Because of this, she was able to save Clancy when the time came.
