Buffalo & Erie County Public Library Staff Review by Pat Covley:
Diamond Ruby tells the story of Ruby Thomas, a young woman growing up in Brooklyn during the early 1900’s. When we first meet Ruby, she is a young girl living with her parents. While on a family outing to Ebbetts Field, Ruby catches a baseball off the bat of Casey Stengel. She soon discovers that she has an amazing talent for throwing baseballs; she can throw as hard as a major league pitcher.
After losing most of her family as the result of the 1918 flu epidemic, Ruby is cast in the role of surrogate parent to her two nieces. Thirteen-year-old Ruby uses her unusually long arms to kill squirrels to feed to the girls. When she is seventeen, she comes up with a plan to support her small family by becoming “Diamond Ruby”, the star of a carnival sideshow. Men are challenged to prove their manhood by throwing faster than Ruby. Ruby eventually meets Babe Ruth, who gives her some tips to improve her pitching.
Diamond Ruby is a pleasant read. It presents a vivid description of life in New York City during Prohibition. Whether you enjoy reading about baseball or just like cheering for a loveable underdog, this is the book for you.
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