Almost Paradise
By Corabel Shofner
Hi! Have you ever woken up and not known where you were? That’s happened to me before. One time when I was at my friend’s house, I woke up and I had no idea where I was! Well, that’s kind of like what happens to Ruby Clyde Henderson.
Ruby Clyde wakes up in her mom’s boyfriend’s camper. His name is Carl, but Ruby Clyde calls him “The Catfish” because his eyes are really far apart and he has whiskers. They’re going to Hollywood. Catfish wants to get a new job. The only problem is that Ruby left all her friends behind and life is just a turnin’ for her. They stop for a break and The Catfish meets a guy named Gus. The Catfish goes around making friends. That’s just what he does. The Catfish says that Gus is going to drive him around his town. He tells them to get out of the camper and hands Ruby’s mom a $100 bill. He tells them to go site-seeing.
While they’re site-seeing, they go to a circus. That’s where they meet Bunny. (Bunny is a pig, just so you know.) Ruby’s mom just can’t stand cruelness to animals. They were forcing a pig to ride around in a miniature Cadillac. That was the last straw for Ruby’s mom. She jumped up and tried to steal the pig, but they got caught and were thrown outside. When they got back (without the pig), they found out that Gus had given The Catfish a gun. Gus wasn’t there, though. He had driven away since they had been waiting so long. Ruby saw how her mom so desperately wanted that pig, so she told The Catfish how they had been thrown outside by the circus people just ‘cause her mom really wanted the pig. So Catfish went back and stole the pig. Then they drove away.
Ruby named the pig “Bunny” because her best friend back home was named Bunny. They went to a gas station. The Catfish tried to rob that gas station, but they were caught by the police. Ruby, fortunately, had been walking the pig. She got back just in time to see her mama get handcuffed. When Ruby’s mom saw her, she mouthed, “Go to your Aunt Eleanor.” Her Aunt Eleanor was her mom’s identical twin sister that Ruby had just found out even existed.
Will Ruby escape to her aunt, or will she be alone and be sent to the orphanage? As I always say, read the book to find out!
I recommend this book to readers who love a mystery but at the same time love a good fiction book. I know that the end of my review sounded scary, but trust me, this book is good!
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor):
There is one scary part in this book, but it is not that scary.
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor):
No. None. Zero. Nada.
I give this book 5 wands.
It was a little bit scary, but that scariness helped form this book into a great story! It showed me how life can be hard and tough, but sometimes you’ve just got to love.
