Love, Ruby Lavender

Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles is a novel that follows the life and growth of nine-year-old Ruby during the summer following an accident that killed her grandfather and the father of Ruby’s adversary, Melba Jane Latham. Set in the close-knit small town of Halleluia, Mississippi in the mid-20th century, the text highlights the love between Ruby and her grandmother, the different ways people respond to grief and loss, and how life is neither wholly good nor wholly difficult but a combination of the “sweet” and the “sour.” Exonerated from blame for the accident by a new peacemaking friend, Ruby develops empathy—even for Melba—after participating in a long-standing conflict that results in Melba’s baldness and two dead chicks. First published in 2001, the text is an ALA Notable Book for Children, an NCTE Notable Book in the Language Arts, and a Capitol Choices Noteworthy Book for Children, among many additional accolades. Wiles uses her childhood experience of spending summers in Mississippi as inspiration and relies on humor and realism to resonate with her young audience.

This guide refers to the 2002 Gulliver Books paperback edition.

Plot Summary

Upon learning that the hens at Peterson’s Egg Ranch will be slaughtered pending the property sale, Eula Dapplevine and her granddaughter, nine-year-old Ruby Lavender, raid the ranch and “liberate” three chickens. Eula works at the general store run by Miss Mattie Perkins, Eula’s sister-in-law and Ruby’s great-aunt. Eula and Ruby are close. They leave notes for one another inside a secret mailbox: a knothole in a maple tree in Halleluia, Mississippi. Wiles includes many of these letters and some newspaper articles in the text. Mattie expects Ruby to help around the mercantile, though Ruby is anxious about interacting with the Latham family after last summer’s accident that killed Garnet, Ruby’s grandfather, and Mr. Latham. The oldest Latham child, Melba Jane, makes fun of Ruby and her chickens, and Ruby chases Melba from the store. Afterward, Eula encourages Ruby to empathize with Melba and not to be so hard on Mattie, who Ruby calls a “crab,” because Mattie grieves Garnet too. Garnet loved lemon drops, and he used to say that people are a similar combination of sweet and sour.

Ruby rejoices when Ivy, one of the rescued chickens, lays three eggs. Ruby’s mother, Evelyn, tells her that “Life does go on” (21), something Eula says, and something she recently reminded Eula of. Ruby insists that Eula is fine, and Evelyn tries to explain how grief works but has little success. Ruby goes to her grandmother’s house, which is called the Pink Palace since they painted it after Garnet’s death. Eula tells Ruby that her son and his wife who live in Hawaii had a baby and want Eula to visit. She needs to get away from reminders of Garnet for a while. Ruby is jealous of the baby and dreads Eula’s departure. When Eula leaves, the entire town turns out to wave her off, but Ruby refuses to say goodbye.

Ruby plots revenge on Melba, though Evelyn encourages Ruby to let it go because Melba is still grieving for her father. Ruby argues that being sad doesn’t make people act meanly. Ruby writes her grandmother multiple letters every day, complaining about Melba and expressing her sadness in Eula’s absence. Melba and Ruby have another argument when Ruby goes to the post office. Eula writes about how happy she is in Hawaii, how cute the baby is, and how beautiful the flowers are.

Ruby gets a letter from Mr. Ferrell Ishee, her teacher for next year, and he encloses a questionnaire. After she fills it out and sends it back, he invites her to his home—the old egg ranch property—to meet his family. When she goes, she meets Mr. Ishee, his wife, and his niece, Dove, who is Ruby’s age and wants to be an anthropologist. Dove is interested in learning about people and why they act the way they do. Melba arrives unexpectedly. When Dove asks her about the saddest thing ever to happen in town, Melba describes the accident that killed her father and Garnet. They were returning home late after a day out of town. Garnet fell asleep at the wheel, and he drove off the bridge into the lake. When Melba threatens to tell Dove the whole story, Ruby quickly leaves.

Every summer, the town stages an operetta, and Ruby knows Melba will probably get the lead. Dove visits Ruby and asks about the contention between her and Melba, who never finished the story of the accident because her mother came to get her. Ruby invites Dove for dinner, but she already has plans with Melba.

The next day, Ruby goes to operetta tryouts and takes one of the chickens in a wagon. When Ruby goes inside, the chicken gets into the building. In the chaos the chicken creates, a bucket of blue paint topples onto Melba’s head. That night, Dove tells Ruby that Mrs. Latham had to cut off Melba’s hair and that her scalp is still blue. Ruby swears it was an accident, and Dove believes her, though she also sympathizes with the now-bald Melba. Dove asks why Melba blames Ruby for the accident, but Ruby changes the subject. The girls stay up late, waiting for Ivy’s chicks to hatch. Suddenly, a rock shatters the greenhouse window. One of the rocks topples onto Ivy’s nest, cracking two eggs and killing the chicks inside. One of the rocks has a note attached to it professing hate for Ruby and her chickens.

Adults come running, and Mattie says she saw Melba fleeing the property. She takes Ruby and Dove inside to clean their cuts, and Ivy sits on her one remaining egg. Mattie is gentle, understanding Ruby’s anger and grief, and Ruby begins to see her aunt in a new light. She runs back outside when Dove says that the last chick is hatching. After its birth, Ruby considers Eula’s saying and thinks that life won’t go on for two of the chicks. Dove suggests that the expression might mean something else. The newspaper reports on the events at the operetta tryouts and Eula’s house. The writer suggests that both were “accidents at heart” (141). Ruby holds a funeral for the chicks and names the third chick Rosebud. She writes to Eula about these events and tells her that another hen, Bemmie, also laid an egg. Ruby avoids Melba for weeks, though Melba sends a note of apology.

The operetta is scheduled for August 1. Dove wants Ruby to come, though Ruby doesn’t want to see Melba. Melba talks to Dove about her dad a lot, and Ruby shudders when she realizes how similar their relationship was to her and Garnet’s. Melba showed Dove where the car went off the bridge, and Dove offers to show Ruby. Ruby collects a bouquet of Garnet’s favorite flowers, black-eyed Susans, and they go together.

Ruby tells Dove that Melba heard her begging her grandfather not to stay in a hotel on the night of the accident, and this is why Melba blames her for it. However, Mattie told Dove’s aunt that Garnet never intended to stay in Raleigh because he never slept apart from Eula, exonerating Ruby from her guilt and Melba’s blame. Ruby drops her flowers into the lake, telling Garnet goodbye. Melba approaches, saying she only meant to throw rocks in the yard and didn’t mean to kill the chicks. She wonders aloud if her dad thought about her when he died and admits how much she misses him, but Ruby doesn’t want to hear about Melba’s pain.

Ruby hears peeping from Bemmie’s egg, but she can’t stop thinking about Melba. She heads to the schoolhouse where Melba is performing in the operetta. On stage, a piece of the set snags Melba’s wig, revealing her bald, blue head. Melba’s horror is palpable, and Ruby rushes onto the stage when she realizes Melba cannot remember her lines. Ruby talks about Melba’s father and Garnet, reciting a poem Garnet once taught her. The pianist plays an appropriate tune, and the girls dance off the stage while the audience applauds. Melba and Ruby trade apologies for the chicks, the losses of their father and grandfather, and Melba’s bald head. When Ruby leaves, she finds a note in the secret mailbox. Eula is back from her trip, and she saw how Ruby rescued Melba onstage. She tells Ruby to come to the Pink Palace. Ruby snatches up Rosebud, who follows her to town and tells the chick that life does go on.