All Ruby wants is a normal childhood with normal friends and a normal pet - like a dog. But with her quirky parents tangoing across their front lawn, playing miniature ping pong games on airplanes, and eating their breakfast upside down, a normal life is hard to come by. Instead, Ruby spends countless hours playing with her identical dolls, The Three Jennifers. But on a trip to Norway, Ruby reluctantly ends up with a very strange pet, and it's not the nice, normal dog she wanted. It's a little glacier who follows her around - even to school - and needs to be fed pebbles on a daily basis. Ruby ignores the glacier, wishing he would go away, but when he risks his life in an act of kindness on her behalf, she's forced to reevaluate what she wants in a pet.
Like Ruby's parents, this picture book is far from ordinary. The author and illustrator clearly took great care in adding lots of bizarre little details to round out the characters, from the crocodile shaved in Ruby's topiary-loving dad's beard, to the glacier's refusal to eat gray pebbles. While the details are fun, and the illustrations are vibrant, it is difficult to believe that a girl who has wanted to be normal her entire life would suddenly embrace oddity. Still, it's a fun story with a sweet ending. Note: Despite being a picture book, this is not a quick read as there is a lot of text on each page.
EL - ADVISABLE. Reviewed by: Caryn.
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