CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2007)
Ruby Lu is back in this sparkling follow-up to Ruby Lu, Brave and True. The arrival of her cousin, Flying Duck, from China means big changes for Ruby Lu, almost all of them good. She gets to be Flying Duck’s Smile Buddy at school, she’s learning both Chinese and American sign language (Flying Duck is deaf), and she even gets to go to summer school (although it takes awhile for the good things about summer school to sink in). Of course there are challenges too. Her best friend, Emma, claims Flying Duck is a real alien from outer space; there are endless craft projects (Ruby Lu hates crafts) after school; and an incident involving two small magnets and her little brother Oscar’s nose is more drama than anyone needs. Perhaps most frightening of all, there are the letters her teacher sends home from school one day—mysterious letters that Ruby Lu is certain don’t say anything good. Lenore Look’s humor is over the top but never out of control in this wholly entertaining short novel. CCBC Category: Fiction for Children. 2006, Atheneum, 164 pages, $15.95. Ages 6-9.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 5))
The best thing about Flying Duck and her family emigrating from China to live with Ruby Lu's family is that everything is new and exciting, but her mother warns her that even the most exciting things can grow old. Suddenly everything is different. The house is filled with strange new foods, the sounds of a new language and too many people. As Empress of Everything, Ruby Lu already has a full plate. How will she ever manage to squeeze all the new responsibilities that come with a suddenly much larger family into her schedule already packed with swimming lessons, the Plum Club and summer school? Reminiscent of Beverly Cleary's infamous Ramona Quimby, Ruby Lu is at once endearing and exasperating. The only flaw is the occasional tendency to pontificate. Peppered with delightful illustrations of the myriad adventures and mishaps, this follow-up to Ruby Lu, Brave and True (2004) does not disappoint. 2006, Anne Schwartz/Atheneum, 176p, $15.95. Category: Fiction. Ages 7 to 10. © 2006 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Amy Hart (Library Media Connection, January 2007)
Picking up where Ruby Lu, Brave and True (Simon & Schuster, 2004) ends, Ruby adjusts to life with her newly arrived Chinese relatives. She is mostly thrilled, but also frustrated by the challenges of sharing her home with her deaf cousin, Flying Duck, and her parents. At school, Ruby is proud to be Flying Duck's Smile Buddy, but she gets angry when her best friend, Emma, calls Flying Duck an alien (the outer space kind). Further trouble arises when Ruby and her cousin learn that they are headed to summer school and Emma declares that summer school is for dummies. But when Ruby saves Emma from drowning in their Shallow Shores swim class, their friendship is momentarily restored. Ruby is a spunky, unique character and an instantly recognizable second Grade 'Everygirl'. Like all almost eight-year-olds, she gives as much weight to life's small challenges as she gives to larger philosophical ones. Although she crowns herself "Empress of Everything," she is not perfect and learns to live with failure and to celebrate success. Anne Wilsdorf's illustrations aptly capture the wonderful individuality of Ruby and her friends, as well as their frantic enthusiasm for life. Recommended. 2006, Atheneum (Simon & Schuster), 164pp., $15.95 hc. Ages 6 to 10.

Karen Coates, Reviewer (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, May 2006 (Vol. 59, No. 9))
When last readers saw her (Ruby Lu, Brave and True), Ruby Lu was welcoming her cousin Flying Duck from China, happy to have a kindred spirit at last. She is just as pleased now that Flying Duck is living with her, and her cousin’s deafnessjust makes her additionally glamorous to Ruby Lu (“Having a cousin from China who was deaf was as good as having a cousin who had a third eye in the middle of her forehead”). Of course, some things are sticky--Ruby Lu does get a bit annoyed that, since the arrival of the Chinese-speaking relatives, nobody speaks English at home anymore, that baby brother Oscar loves Flying Duck more than Ruby, and that her neighbor Emma doesn’t know the difference between “alien” as in someone from China versus “alien” as in someone from outer space. The irrepressible Ruby Lu can’t be thwarted for long, though, and her exuberance manages to pull her through all sorts of nasty developments--swim lessons, for instance, and summer school, since she has been doing all of Flying Duck’s ESL homework for her instead of her own. Look maintains a joyously manic pace throughout Ruby Lu’s adventures, artfully dropping plot threads as Ruby thinks she has skirted their difficulties only to bring them back into the mix later for maximum effect. Wilsdorf ’s copious black-and-white spot art is sassy and irreverent, and there’s an additional flip-book image of a posing Ruby in the lower right corner of the pages. Though Ruby invites favorable comparison with Junie B. Jones, Judy Moody, and Ramona, her charm, especially as it is threaded through with a funky multicultural sense of style and play, is unique. Keep ’em coming! Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2006, Atheneum, 164p, $15.95. Grades 2-4.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2006)
In this follow-up to Ruby Lu, Brave and True, second-grader Ruby's cousin Flying Duck arrives from China. The story offers a main character as spunky as Ramona and as moody as Judy, a bustling pace, and a vocabulary that should challenge readers almost outgrowing early chapter books. Energetic ink cartoons are in line with this comic novel's frenetic atmosphere. Category: Younger Fiction. 2006, Atheneum/Schwartz, 164pp, 15.95. Ages 5 to 9. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.