Kinsey-Warnock (A Doctor Like Papa, above, etc.) highlights love of reading and the desire to learn in this short, wholesome tale of hardship and friendship, set in early 20th-century Vermont. Ruby leaves her beloved lumberjack father to ride into town to school each day then returns to “school” her ten younger siblings. But after his death, she has to drop out to help the now-struggling family make ends meet. Fortunately, not only do the lumberjacks hire Ruby’s Ma to cook for them, but a group asks Ruby herself to teach them to read—and better yet, the family is befriended by Aurora Graham, a retired nurse with a large house full of books. In a quick but satisfying conclusion, the author sends Ruby on to become a teacher in later life, and after her retirement to found a town library for future generations of avid readers. Like Lucy Whipple, Ruby may take an occasional wrong turn, but she meets challenges squarely, and finds her vocation with the help of a rough community that recognizes and supports her talents. Illustrations not seen. (Fiction. 9-11)
