Perfect storytelling

I read this book because it won the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction. It richly deserves this recognition and I'm grateful to have been led to it. K. Tempest Bradford has crafted a beautiful story that covers many bases deftly. The eleven year old Ruby is passionate about science, particularly entomology, but Bradford doesn't paint her as a stereotypically asocial nerd. In fact Ruby is very well embedded in her group of friends, her nuclear and extended family, and her community. Although the "bug" that she finds and investigates proves to be far more powerful than she is, she remains a dynamic actor throughout and never descends to victimhood even in moments when her plight might seem hopeless, and in the end she saves the day in foreshadowed but still surprising ways. While all this is going on, being a kid, and a Black kid, in a large American city reveals important social dynamics. Ruby encounters bias due to her age and ethnicity among many adults who naturally wield power over her such as a science teacher who doubts Ruby's potential, but Bradford, unwilling to rest on simplicity, also presents diverse adults who really step up and stand behind Ruby and social justice. The story satisfyingly portrays increments of this girl's growing up in responsibility, love, ethics, and belief in herself. What a great job!

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