Ruby Holler

Dallas and Florida were abandoned at an unlicensed orphanage. Now 13, they are again fostered out. Should they trust the promises made by this new set of parents?
I hope pre-teen readers respond well to cliche characters since all the adults they meet, except for Tiller and Sairy are overdone portraits of meanness and greed. Even 'Z', who apparently believes he has some connection to the twins, is shown as an indecisive loser, altho the astute reader might wonder what mental disability has claimed him.
But, my adult questions aside, all's well that ends well, and the story with plenty of conversation and short chapter adventures were much enjoyed by my son.

Dallas and Florida - the Trouble Twins, as the couple who run the orphanage call them - are taken in by an older couple, who want young companions on the canoe and bird-watching trips they're planning. The twins are slow to trust adults, since they've been placed in several homes with people who have mistreated and exploited them and then sent them back to the orphanage, where they don't fare much better. But Tiller and Sairy (the older couple with whom they are now staying) are kind and loving and patient, and they live in Ruby Holler, a utopia of woods and streams and wilderness, and between the people and the setting, the kiddos learn to trust and love.
I normally really enjoy Creech's books, but this one was a little too much: the show more kids were a little too exasperating, the mean adults a little too cardboardy-mean, the good adults a little too quirky in their niceness, and the ending a little too pat. Still, the story itself is interesting enough to have kept me engaged and helped me look past the saccharine parts. show less

My daughter said this is one of her favorite books and Sharon Creech is one of her favorite authors. I had already read “Walk Two Moons” but that didn’t set me up proper for this one. Walk Two Moons has big questions, like karma, parental loss, parental absence, and lots of death. Ruby Holler is about a brother and sister, two grandparents in a cabin, and evil villains who run an orphanage.

It reminded me of a female Roald Dahl book + Gilmore Girls/Switched at Birth. There’s all this quaint country stuff (living in the woods, rural lifestyle, hiking and boating) with a little spitz of magic. There are some problems with choppiness and loose ends (the evil orphanage owner gets a rather pithy comeuppance for his misdeeds). It’s show more like "Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events" if it was shown on CMT. show less

Brother and sister Dallas and Florida are the "trouble twins." In their short thirteen years, they've passed through countless foster homes, only to return to their dreary orphanage, Boxton Creek Home.

Run by the Trepids, a greedy and strict couple, Boxton Creek seems impossible to escape. When Mr. Trepid informs the twins that they'll be helping old Tiller and Sairy Morey go on separate adventures, Dallas and Florida are suspicious.

As the twins adjust to the natural beauty of the outdoors, help the Tillers prepare for their adventures, and foil a robbery, their ultimate search for freedom leads them home to Ruby Holler.

Thirteen-year-old twins Florida and Dallas have lived with the Trepids since they were babies. Although Mrs. Trepid originally thought to adopt them herself, she found she lacked the patience; yet no other adoptive home has worked out for them, either, and they've experienced neglect, bullying, and abuse, the likes of which horrify older couple Sairy and Tiller, who take the twins to Ruby Holler for the summer.

Empty nesters Sairy and Tiller miss their grown children, and plan on taking separate trips - Dallas will go with Sairy, Florida with Tiller - to pursue long-held dreams. But their dreams prove to be closer to home as they bond with the tough twins, and the twins cautiously decide to stay (rather than running away and catching a show more train in the night).

The other neighbor in the holler, a man called Z, does some work for the Trepids, but proves loyal to Sairy and Tiller in the end - and discovers a huge surprise about his own connection to the twins [spoiler alert: he may be their father].

See also: One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Quotes

Florida felt uneasy when Dallas asked these questions. She felt as if they had no control over what they were or where they were going or what they might become. (44)

"You just think everybody's good, and that everybody tells the truth." (Dallas to Sairy, 253) show less

Brother and sister Dallas and Florida are the “trouble twins.” In their short thirteen years, they’ve passed through countless foster homes, only to return to their dreary orphanage, Boxton Creek Home.
Run by the Trepids, a greedy and strict couple, Boxton Creek seems impossible to escape. When Mr. Trepid informs the twins that they’ll be helping old Tiller and Sairy Morey go on separate adventures, Dallas and Florida are suspicious.
As the twins adjust to the natural beauty of the outdoors, help the Tillers prepare for their adventures, and foil a robbery, their ultimate search for freedom leads them home to Ruby Holler.

Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech is realistic fiction at its best! Dallas and his sister, Florida, are twins who have had a very rough life. They live in an orphanage run by the Trepids, a couple who can’t stand children. The Trepids have a gazillion rules about all the things kids can’t do while they live there. Dallas and Florida get in a lot of trouble because they're always breaking some rule or another. Other families that have taken Florida and Dallas in for a while, but they are too much trouble for everyone and end up being returned to the Trepids. One day an older couple named Tiller and Sairy arrives at the orphanage to get two kids to go on vacation with them, and they select Dallas and Florida. They bring them home to Ruby show more Holler, which is out in the middle of nowhere and filled with animals, trees, rivers, hills and all kinds of wonderful outdoor sights. Will Dallas and Florida change their ways? Will Sairy and Tiller be able to handle the destruction that comes with the “terrible two”? Will the Trepids finally be free of Dallas and Florida?

I highly recommend this feel good book. I laughed my way through it and can still hear Florida’s voice ringing in my ears (maggoty, wretched, etc.). Lots of short chapters- and although it looks like a long book, it's a really fast read! I would recommend this story to kids in third grade and up. The characters are memorable and the story is such fun! show less