Ruby Valentine loves Valentine's Day. She spends days preparing valentines for her loved ones, only to sleep through Valentine's Day. She decides to deliver them anyway and realizes it's okay to tell people you love them any day of the year! ( )

I really enjoyed the book “Love, Ruby Valentine” for three main reasons. First, I liked it because it was a poetry book. The rhyming of the words gave the book a nice flow and really captivated my attention. Rhymes such as “Deep in the heart of Heartland, in a house of oak and pine, with her feathered friend named Loverbird, lived Ruby Valentine” successfully contributed to the cutesy, whimsical feeling the book is trying to portray. Secondly, I loved the illustrations within the book. The way in which the characters and scenery were depicted mirrored how I was imagining them in my head while reading. I love when this happens because it makes you feel very immersed in the story. Lastly, and probably most importantly I enjoyed “Love, Ruby Valentine” because of the heartfelt story it told. This brings me to the “big idea” of the story. Basically, Ruby Valentine is a little girl who loves Valentine’s Day because it is a day where she can write cards and give out candy to people to show how much she loves and values them. However, on this particular Valentine’s Day Ruby oversleeps and misses it which causes her to have to hand out all of her goodies the day after. This makes Ruby very nervous because she feels like she has disappointed people. Much to her surprise Ruby’s late gestures are greeted with love and appreciation from her friends and she realizes that saying “I love you” doesn’t have to wait until Valentine’s Day, you can say it any day! This realization that affection is not designated for specific holidays is the main idea of “Love, Ruby Valentine” and is an incredibly important message for young children to learn. ( )