RUBBADUCK AND RUBY ROO
by Hiawyn Oram & illustrated by David Lucas
Addressed at least as much to adults as children, this folktale-style story pairs two abandoned toys with conflicting, but not incompatible, natures. Staid Rubbaduck—depicted as an antique ducky with a sailor cap and a serious mien—invites new arrival Ruby Roo, an outgrown rag doll, to stay in his cozy patchwork house for a while. When she proceeds to eat him out of house and home, he sighs, and sends her out to trade his best coat for garden seeds. Instead, she runs into Mischievous Monkey and comes home with a Magic Dancing Stick. Annoyed, Rubbaduck tries again with his best hat and then his best slippers, with similar results. Before the conflict can turn ugly, however, King Lion offers a bag of gold to anyone who can make the Queen laugh. Problems solved. The plot may not mean much to younger viewers, but they will enjoy poring over Lucas’s simply drawn setting: a land of lost toys built from stray playing cards, chessmen, tin mechanicals, Erector Set pieces and similar bric-a-brac. (Picture book. 6-8)