Ruby and the Sniffs

by Michael Emberley

Worried that the noise coming upstairs could be the result of burglars, feisty Ruby the mouse goes to the apartment and investigates, only to find out that the folks making all the ruckus are her new piggy neighbors, the Sniffs.

Genres: Picture Books, Humor

32 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Michael Emberley is the illustrator of numerous books for children. He lives in Ireland.

Reviews

[Jane Maple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruby hears thumps upstairs and is sure it is cat burglars, but his baby-sitter Mrs. Mastiff isn't interested in taking a look. So Ruby suggests a game of hide-and-seek and promises not to leave the apartment, but of course he does and he goes upstairs to check it out. Once in the upstairs apartment he hears sounds and tries to hide, but is discovered by three snouts attached to a mother, father and baby pig. They take Ruby for a gerbil and explain that they recently moved in. The invite him to sit in one of their chairs (too hard, too soft, broken - when baby sits with him). The pigs go to eat their fish heads but noticed that someone has already been eating them. Ruby discovers a cat burglar in the closet and Mrs. Mastiff attacks him. Now that the burglar has been caught Ruby and Mastiff return to their apartment for lunch.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruby the mouse hears a noise in the upstairs apartment, and under the guise of a game of hide and seek with her babysitter, Mrs. Mastiff sneaks off to investigate, and to catch a cat burglar. What awaits Ruby is an adventure she won't soon forget. This twisted, mash-up of familiarity is full of fun, sight-gags, puns and laugh-out loud shenanigans.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly mash-up of fairy tales set in city apartments with critters that bear too much (and, at the same time, too little) resemblance to their real-life counterparts to be anything but absurd. Mrs. Mastiff is a great babysitter, though.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far the two or three stories we've read about Ruby have been great. We love Ruby, the main character, we love the supporting characters, all of them. Mrs. Mastiff is just awesome.
In this story Mrs. Mastiff is babysitting - mousesitting? - Ruby and Ruby is itching for some excitement. Ruby convinces Mrs. Mastiff to play hide-and-seek and as soon as she gets a chance Ruby bounds out of the apartment.
Ruby's reason for doing suggesting this game is because of the strange noises she hears on the floor above hers. Ruby isn't scared, in fact she's very brave, and she just has to check this out to make sure all is well.
Along the way Ruby finds herself some new - different - friends and some trouble. Someone comes to her rescue and the book ends beautifully.
Emberley is really talented and I know we'll continue reading his Ruby stories!

[The Brothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's another Ruby book before this one, so it took me a minute to realize that the author assumed we knew a bit about his spunky little mouse when I started reading.

Ruby tricks her babysitter into letting her out of the apartment by playing hide-and-seek. She goes upstairs to look for a suspicious burglars and comes across an apartment belonging to an iteration of the three little pigs (apparently hill-billy pigs in this case). Turns out there was a cat burglar in the apartment and luckily Ruby's babysitter comes along and rescues them from the cat. Kinda weird story when all is said and done.

Illustrations are pretty good.

[Kristy Schwertfeger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a good read aloud book. It is funny and would keep students entertained. It is about a mouse who plays hide and seek with his babysitter but gets in a lot of trouble.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

delightful!

[Jesse Crooker]

This is the story about a brave, defiant little mouse on a quest to stop a burglar she hears upstairs. She’s tricks her nanny by playing hide and seek and escaping the room. But rather coming face to face with a sneaky burglar, she finds a family of pigs living upstairs in the apartment above her. To her surprise, Ruby actually finds a burglar hiding in the pig’s closet. That is when Ruby’s babysitter comes upstairs and stops the burglar in his tracks.