Ruby's Imagine [Hardcover]

 "Antieau offers a complex, personal account of Katrina and her aftermath, compounding the horror of the storm with the details of individual tribulations. Readers will feel the vulnerability and despair of the communities affected by the storm, as well as the strength with which survivors faced it down. Rubys atmospheric narrative is as dense and pungent as the bayou, her words an honest expression of her unique world view, and a clue to the long-sought secrets of her past." (Booklist )

"YA readers will be drawn by Ruby's story--both her personal story and the community's story of survival." (K.L.I.A.T.T. )

Ruby is a child of nature, and she communes with sparrows, trees, and butterflies, even in the heart of her New Orleans neighborhood that her grandmother, Mammaloose, refuses to call a “ward.” Ruby’s animal friends let her know that “a Big Spin“ is coming, but stubborn Mammaloose refuses to heed such fanciful communication, and she ignores her neighbors’ evacuation and the media’s escalating warnings. Then Hurricane Katrina arrives, tearing the roof off their shabby house and exposing their attic shelter, along with a host of family secrets. Antieau offers a complex, personal account of Katrina and her aftermath, compounding the horror of the storm with the details of individual tribulations. Readers will feel the vulnerability and despair of the communities affected by the storm, as well as the strength with which survivors faced it down. Ruby’s atmospheric narrative is as dense and pungent as the bayou, her words an honest expression of her unique world view, and a clue to the long-sought secrets of her past. Grades 6-10.
(Booklist -Thom Barthelmess )

Astorm is coming. Big Oak told Ruby Butterfly and Ruby Butterfly told Ruby the girl. But how does Ruby the girl tell everyone else? Her grandmother, Mammaloose, will say its Rubys imaginationnot real. Like Rubys memories of her mama and daddyjust make-believe. But this storm isnt make-believe. Its coming hard and strong, set to destroy everything in its path. And if the storm is real, maybe Rubys memories are, too.

Kim Antieau is the author of several adult books and two novels for teens, Mercy, Unbound and Broken Moon. She lives with her husband in the Northwest.

Chapter One Moon Day A butterfly the color of my name did tell me that a Big Spin was coming our way. I was standing by Mr. Grants wisteria, which hung over his fence and down into our yard, when Ruby Butterfly, this jeweled metamorphosis of a cattypillar, landed on a bright green wisteria leaf like some kind of winged oracle and looked straight at me; we exchanged glances, you know, the way liked-minded and soul-bodied creatures can. We understood each other down deep to our transfigured and transforming cellular parts, and I knew the Big Oaks had told Ruby Butterfly and now she was letting me in on the not-so- secret secret: a storm was coming. Her message was akin to Run fer ya lives! in Big Oak and Ruby Butterfly speak. Or, Stay and watch if you the stomach fer it. I thanked Ruby Butterfly, who had flown back to the blue, for letting me know, and I watched Samuel Beckett Sparrow hop down from the aboves to my feet. He pecked at the dirt, and I wonders how I could warn the others. No times like this one right now. I went back into the house and to the kitchen, where Mammaloose was cooking red beans and rice. Uncle Gilbert sat at the table reading the papers and stirring his coffeeround and round his spoon went, creating its own little Big Spin. Where you been? Mammaloose asked. Never seen anyone who took so long gettin from one place to nother like you. I stopped at the library with Jacob, I told her. We have a report due on hurricanes. This was near to the truth. Set the table, Mammaloose told me. She seemed in one of her good-time moods, so I needed to make my words full of care. Mammaloose never hears my words as glad tidings. She says I is constantly putting a target on myself by using my Ruby words. When I was small Mammaloose could not tolerate my Ruby words at all. Sometimes she whipped me with a leather belt she said my daddy used to hit me with before he died in the car crash with my momma. I knew her words were not part of the true imaginings. My daddy would never have harmed a hair on my head, arms, or legs, and not any other part of my being. Not with purpose. Not like Mammaloose used to do. She doesnt touch me with hurt anymore these years. JayElthats what I call Jacobsays its because Im bigger than she is now. Maybe she is afraid of you, he says. No matters. I pulled plates out from the cupboard and put them on the wooden table. Uncle Gilbert gave me cheerful glances as I set the plate near him. Fork. Knife. Glass. I poured beer in the glasses of Mammaloose and Uncle Gilbert. I think a big hurricane is coming our way, I said, likes I was talking about the weatherwhich I suppose I was. I never heard nothing, Mammaloose said. Wouldnt matter though. We been through so many storms, so many floods. This house danced with Betsy and came away just fine. And everything since. Mammaloose says any part of her house stand up to any part of anything else. Except maybe the roof. She be after Uncle Gilbert to fix it since before the last st