Kids into Books: Ruby Red

Author:Henrietta Branford

Illustrator: John Lupton

Publisher: HarperCollins, $12.95

Age Group: 8+ years

Ruby fetched wood and lit her fire. Smoke from the chimney made the Gargoyle sneeze. Ruby cooked buttered hop tops in a frying pan over the fire and ate them with a watercress salad.

After supper she took out her toolbox and worked on her latest invention. It was going to be a musical toaster.

Outside, beyond the firelight, woods and fields grew dark. Mice woke and went about their business - which was mostly food. Theirs, if they were lucky. Owl's, if he spotted them down among the grass stalks.

Presently, Ruby put away her toolbox and her toaster. She climbed the ladder to her bedroom, gave her hair a hundred brushes with a teazle head and lay down in her hammock. She read a page or two of her book by candlelight. Then she blew out her candle and slept.

Safe in their coop, Crinkle, Cluck and Columbine slept too.

High on the wall beside the clock the Gargoyle dreamed of church bells.