About this item
This backyard adventure-mystery by debut children's author K. Tempest Bradford is perfect for fans of Clean Getaway, The Last Last Day of Summer, and Sideways School.Eleven-year-old Ruby is a Black girl who loves studying insects and would do just about anything to be an entomologist, much to the grossed-out dismay of her Gramma. Ruby knows everything there is to know about insects so when she finds the weirdest bug she's ever seen in her front yard, she makes sure no one is looking and captures it for further study.But then Ruby realizes that the creature isn't just a regular bug. And it has promptly burned a hole through her window and disappeared. Soon, random things around the neighborhood go missing, and no one's heard from the old lady down the street for a week.
About the Author
K. Tempest Bradford is an award-winning teacher, media critic, and author of fantasy and science fiction steeped in Black Girl Magic. Her debut middle grade novel Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion will be out in September 2022 from FSG for Young Readers. Tempest's short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies and magazines, including In The Shadow of the Towers and Strange Horizons. Her media criticism and essays on diversity and representation have been published at NPR, io9, Ebony Magazine, and more. She teaches classes and gives talks on representation and creating diverse narratives for Writing the Other and has been invited to teach at Clarion West, LitReactor, universities, and entertainment companies. She's the recipient of the 2020 LOCUS Special Award for Inclusivity and Representation Education and the 2022 Lemonade Award. She's been nominated for FIYAH Magazine's IGNYTE Community and Ember Awards.
