Bernice Lum – illustratör

Ruby''s mum is sick . . . or is she? It''s very upsetting when your parents don''t tell you what''s going on. And Ruby''s not the only one who''s upset. Yasmin gets a nasty shock when someone sends her an anonymous email.

Fortunately Holly Helvellyn, Goth teen idol and generally Miss Amazing (except for that miserable boyfriend she now drags around), is on hand to cheer Ruby up, but even she doesn''t have the answers to everything. The truth will out eventually, though . . .

A new boy at school causes great excitement among Ruby''s friends, especially Yasmin. She won''t shut up about him. As if Ruby hasn''t got better things to think about! A lesson on careers has got her wondering about her future. If being a Robin Hood gangsta doesn''t work out, what will she do?

Only when abandoned alone in a forest during a school trip does Ruby finally manage to escape all that boring boy talk. And there she makes the first in a series of surprising and exciting discoveries . . .

Accurate and funny portrayals of the difficulties of being the youngest in the family, and the trials and tribulations of having a moody older brother and a bossy best friend . . .

Ruby''s off to the seaside with Mum, Dad and Mum''s work friend Deb and her family. It''s soon clear that Ruby and Sasha, Deb''s daughter, have absolutely nothing in common, so when Sasha does decide to take a sudden interest in monkeys in an evil attempt at one-upmanship, this can mean only one thing: REVENGE.

It''s a good job Dad wants to teach Ruby to swim, as it gives them both an escape from Sasha and her family. Well, it would be a good idea if he didn''t almost drown her!

Ruby is pressurised by Yasmin into having a Midsummer sleepover at her house - but will her parents agree to it? And where will they all sleep? And if she can''t invite everyone, who''s in and who''s out? It''d have be kept a huge secret . . . What a nightmare!

Ruby digs herself into ever deeper holes as she tries to keep everyone happy. Will she manage to pull it off with friendships and family relationships intact?

It''s just not fair! Ruby''s family won''t let her have a pet. Well, any decent pets, anyway. Her dad''s got this awful cat allergy and her mum thinks it''s cruel to leave a dog alone in the house all day. Ruby is furious - but determined.

Then she meets Horatio, one of the kittens belonging to Yasmin''s neighbour. It''s love at first sight, and Ruby starts making plans for the arrival of the new secret family member . . .

It''s Yasmin''s birthday and Ruby, short of money, makes her the most wonderful home-made card ever. Yasmin''s best present, though, is a set of windup false teeth, which Ruby borrows, but which never make it home - well, not in one piece, anyway.

Oh dear. Plagued with guilt, Ruby''s convinced Yasmin will never forgive her and can''t face ''fessing up straight away. Life always seems to get so complicated for our Ruby!

A much-needed series for all those tom-boy girls out there!

Ruby''s teacher asks Ruby and Yasmin to look after a new girl at school. Her name is Lauren, and it is not long before she manages to upset the uneasy equilibrium between the two best friends. Ruby resents the way Yasmin often waltzes off, leaving her to entertain the extremely shy Lauren.

Meanwhile, back home Ruby is under pressure to accept Tiffany as brother Joe''s girlfriend, not least because Holly seems to have got together with another boy. However, St Valentine''s promises some fun events and an opportunity for a little Valentine card devilment to relieve Ruby from all this relationship stress and get back at Yasmin. Of course, things do not go exactly according to plan and Ruby soon finds herself in rather hot water . . .

Winter is closing in, and with it comes a new set of problems. Ruby is afraid of the dark, and older brother Joe enjoys taking advantage of this by giving her scares whenever he can. The fabulous Holly points out that everyone is afraid of something. True as this turns out to be, it doesn''t really help Ruby, especially when she discovers that her babysitter is even more afraid of the dark than she is!

On top of that, it''s the school play and Ruby also has to confront her stage fright. And then, when things really can''t get any worse, Joe is still going out with that awful girl, Tiffany. Why, oh why, won''t he come to his senses, dump her and go out with the wacky, witty and wonderful Holly?

Ruby Rogers is about to turn ten. She wants to be a gangster when she grows up. She also wants nothing more than a tree house for her birthday. Problem is, there aren''t any trees in her garden, and her family laugh off the idea. Ruby''s furious, but then life takes a turn for the better when, through her best friend Yasmin, she meets Holly Helvellyn, a super-cool Gothic girl who''s friends with Yasmin''s older sister. It turns out Holly rather fancies Ruby''s older brother Joe - the brooding artist in the sixth-form who has a strange habit of talking in newspaper headlines.

One day Holly asks Ruby to steal something from Joe''s bedroom for a joke, setting off a chain of events that culminate in some very unexpected but pleasant surprises . . .

Ruby is determined to get her moody older brother Joe to fall for wonderful Holly. Despite her best efforts to engineer a number of promising situations for them, a series of unexpected setbacks and disasters thwart her efforts - some due to Joe''s personality, some due to Holly''s, some due to the sheer cussedness of the universe.

At least Ruby can be assured of her best friend Yasmin''s loyalty and devotion, especially now they''ve formed their own secret society. Or can she?

Relationships! Why bother? With the knowledge that only a couple of full-blooded blazing rows with her best friend and brother can be in store, Ruby is tempted to retire to her tree house and live with her monkeys for the rest of her life.