Ruby on the Outside by Nora Raleigh Baskin

When Ruby was very young, her mother was arrested and sent to prison. Life with her aunt is Ruby's "normal," but she has a lot of big, complicated feelings about her mother, whom she visits weekly at the women's correctional facility near their home. Ruby doesn't like the other kids in her class to know about her mom, so she's never had a really close friend -- at least, not until she meets Margalit, a carefree girl of her own age who lives nearby. Over the summer, the two girls form a close bond -- but will Ruby's secret tear their friendship apart?

This book offers a perspective not often seen in children's literature, and it's valuable for that, to start. The emotion in the book is well-written, and that's the real heart of the story. I thought that both Ruby and Margalit seemed a little too perfect to be believed, Margalit in her honesty and forthrightness, and Ruby in her described behavior from the night of the arrest -- she seemed to behave in a much more mature fashion than one would expect from such a young child. But I think elementary school readers will relate to the story, and the resolution is reassuring but realistic. Recommended for readers who enjoy realistic works of juvenile fiction.

(Reviewed from a copy borrowed through my library system.)