Ruby the Copycat

Ruby was new in class and she sat behind Angela who had a pretty red bow in her hair. When Miss Hart asked the class what they had did that weekend, Angela shared that she was the flower girl at her sister's wedding and Ruby said she was the flower girl at her sister's wedding too. At lunch, Ruby hopped home and when she came back to school, she had a red bow in her hair just like Angela. Angela liked Ruby's bow and after that, everything Angela wore in the morning, Ruby would come back to school wearing. Eventually, Angela got sick of it. One day when Miss Hart asked the class to read out their poems they made, Angela went first and Ruby went after Angela practically reciting Angela's poem. Miss Hart had Ruby stay after class and told show more Ruby that she should just be herself. Ruby noticed Miss Hart's long pink nails and came back the next week with long pink nails. When Miss Hart told the class that she had gone to an opera that weekend and asked the class what they did with their weekend, Ruby said she went to the opera too. Miss Hart asked Ruby what else she had done that weekend and Ruby said she hopped. When the class started laughing, Ruby got up and showed them that it was true and started hopping all around the room. Miss Hart then turned on the radio and told all the student to hop like Ruby around the room. That day for lunch, Angela and Ruby hopped home for lunch.

I really liked this book. I absolutely loved Miss Hart in this book. She was a great teacher that every student needs. I especially loved the advice Miss Hart gave Ruby, "You can be anything you want to be, but be Ruby first. I like Ruby." I think it's really great that Miss Hart encouraged Ruby rather than scolding her. I also really loved when Miss Hart had the whole class copy Ruby because she knew this would make Ruby feel like she had finally fit in. Younger students have a very strong tendency to copy others because they want to fit in, so this story is definitely really relatable for younger students. show less

Summary: In this children's book, Ruby is a new student in Miss Hart's class and does not have any friends. Miss Hart places her behind a blonde haired girl named Angela. Ruby takes a liking to Angela and starts copying everything she does. She wears the same clothes as her, writes the same papers, paints the same things, and even shares the same interests. Eventually, Angela becomes tired that Ruby is copying her and complains to Miss Hart. Miss Hart talks to Ruby about being herself and asks Ruby what she likes to do- Ruby tells the class she loves to hop! The class laughs at first until they see how good she is. Miss Hart takes advantage of this opportunity and plays music while the class copies Ruby and her hopping.

Argument: I show more think this is a great book for children. I believe this is a story that children can relate to and connect with. At one point in every child's life, they will either deal with copying themselves or someone who copies them. It is what young children do to fit in. I think children will find it refreshing to see something that may happen in their life on a daily basis. I also think children will find it funny that Ruby also tries to copy the teacher after Angela gets mad at her. Children do not usually think of copying the teacher's appearance and actions!
I believe this book has a strong central theme. It reminds children to be who they are because that is the best they can be. It is not fun to be someone else because no one is unique as you are. show less

I can't relate, and I can't stand the art style - but I still enjoyed the way the story was told.  I'm not a writer, so I don't know how to describe the magic of the text, but somehow it was especially graceful, subtle, clear w/out being preachy... - ?  I think I'll try to find more by Rathmann.

I think this is a good book. The overall idea is about wanting to fit in, but the importance of being yourself. Something I really liked about this book are the illustrations. They are each very well done in communicating the feelings of the characters. You can see through her facial expression how frustrated Angela is. You can also see the enjoyment Ruby feels about being like Angela. I also think the story was very well written. Appropriate punctuation is used to express feelings and there is a lot of dialogue, which makes the story much more interesting to read. Without the dialogue, the story would have been extremely repetitive. On one page, Angela reads her poem and then Ruby reads hers, which is almost identical. Without the show more dialogue, the story would have simply read that Ruby copied Angela's poem and the following page would say the same thing, just about a different thing Ruby copied. The dialogue explicitly shows how Ruby copies Angela and how Angela feels about it. show less

this is a good story of a young girl Ruby who is copying her classmate and annoying her. From her sharing at sharing time to running home and changing into the same outfits. She even copies the teacher a bit and has the same nails. This is a great story to teach children to be themselves and not worry about being like others to be liked because like in the end of this novel, something you do can be more fun.

This is about a little girl who is new to the class that decides to start copying everything one of the other girl’s does. Her teacher is able to convince her that being Ruby is the best person she can be. The events in this book probably happen more often than not especially with really young ones. Children look up to each other and adults and like to do what they see being modeled or around them. The content provides insight into some student’s own problems. The theme of the story emerges naturally rather than being stated. The end of the story encourages readers to draw their own conclusions.

This book is a great tool if a teacher ever has a “copycat” situation in class that needs to be taken care of because it is distracting show more from the learning environment. It is important for kids to learn this lesson because this can disrupt a classroom and also cause tension within the room between students. This book also provides a connection for a great lesson on synonyms. Ruby does lots of things that are similar to Angela in the story and these can be used as examples for something similar in meaning.

Reading Level: K-3
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction show less

I thought this book was very cute. It addresses a problem that I think a lot of us struggled with growing up--the desire to fit in. Like Ruby, I occasionally had problems with copying my friends (one friend once got very upset with me for copying her rainbow striped toe socks). I think this job did a nice job of showing that is it perfectly okay to be yourself, and people might even like you more if you are.