I loved the story line as it could apply to anyone anywhere. This is the story of Rubi and her best friend Peter. Rubi's Dad is stationed to Germany and Rubi must leave New York to move there. When they arrive in Germany Rubi's family makes friends with Peter's family. Peter's family takes them sightseeing and teaches them German cooking and the language. During this time Rubi and Peter become the best of friends.
One day Dad is redeployed back to New York and Rubi and Peter are upset. The story goes on from there about friendship and if you work hard enough it will stay. I also liked the added German words and meanings as well as going a little bit into the food of Germany, I felt it enough to peek a child's interest but not to much.
The only thing I did not care for in the book were the illustrations. I thought so much more could have been done with them and and they were very bland.
This all being said I would recommend this book for children 4+.

I loved reading Rubi’s Best Friend by Sonya Thompson! I am an immigrant from Germany and know what it is like to have friends in different countries as well as not being able to see your family all the time. This book shows how you can stay friends even when you are miles apart. As a multicultural couple, we have family in several different countries and this book will help us show our future children how to handle these situations. I think my fellow Georgia graduate Sonya Thompson did a great job with her first children’s book! Go Dawgs!

*I received this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Rubi's Best Friend by Sonya Thompson tells a cute story of a little girl who had to move to Germany due to her father’s military status and the lifelong friendship she develops with a local German boy. With splashes of German phrases through the book, Thompson paints a true connection that transcends cultures in the name of the color of friendship. This book would be perfect for children who experience displacement due to their parents jobs, as it reminds me wherever they go in the world, true friendships will transcend any land or sea.

"Side by side or miles apart, dear friends are always close to the heart." -Unknown


Rubi is seven year's old and her father is an American soldier who gets stationed in Germany. The whole family uproots and off they go on a new adventure to a totally different country to explore and live temperarily.

Rubi has doubts about leaving everything she is familiar with behind. Luckily their German host family takes Rubi and her family under their wings and lovingly teaches them about German culture. And even better? This foreign family has a seven year old boy named Peter, exactly the same age as Rubi. What luck! Both kids hit it off beautifully and a lifelong friendship evolves between the two.

After two years in Germany Rubi's dad gets orders to return back to the United States. The news is bittersweet for the whole family. Once back home Rubi learns that with email, computers and airplanes at her disposal she can always connect with her best friend Peter no matter where they are located in the world.

Unfortunately I am not a fan of the illustrations. I found the first three pages so dark and uninviting to read on. I honestly thought there was something wrong with my downloading of the book. Later on they lightened up even though I thought they could have been better executed. I am not quite sure why the parents are called by their proper names and not mom and dad. I found that puzzling. The car that Mr. Johnson and Mr. Kramer pick out seems totally out of proportion to the men's bodies and I wish there had been a picture of the German green-and-red dress that Mrs. Johnson sewed for her two girls for the reader to see. I like that the author sprinkled authentic German words, with their meanings, throughout the story making it educational and fun.

This is a rather cringe-worthy picture book that had the potential to be a lot better than it was. Unfortunately, the execution is severely lacking, making it an almost painful read.

Let's talk about the look of the book first. The illustrations are quite awful. Not only that, but some of them actually repeat (which I find rather lazy). The people are kind of creepy, with their huge eyes and noodly appendages. In one illustration, Peter's hand even appears to be on backwards! The pictures don't take full advantage of the text, either. The German food (schnitzel and spaetzle) just looks like a few pieces of torn cardboard on a plate, and Rubi's green-and-red "German dress" is described but not shown. The German car that Rubi's father buys is also completely out of proportion; the roof of the sedan barely comes up to the men's waists!

There's also a weird bit of formatting near the beginning when Rubi's sister is first mentioned by name. The author chose to break up little Diamond's name with a hyphen. This is a picture book--a self-published picture book, no less--and the author would've had complete control over where to put the text. Hyphenating words in a picture book is completely unnecessary, and potentially confusing (I had to wait until the sister was mentioned again before I knew whether her name was Diamond or Dia-mond).

The writing is insipid and uninspiring. Aside from the little touches of German language (which I did like... although, a pronunciation guide would've been nice), the text is pedestrian and a little bit condescending. I really don't understand why so many picture-book authors feel the need to simplify their stories and text so much. Rubi is seven at the beginning of the book and around nine at the end; kids that age are likely going to feel like they're being talked down to with a book like this.

The message of friendship gets kind of lost in the boring story. There's no real conflict, and no problem for Rubi to solve. She's tossed around by the hands of fate (well, her parents and the US military, really) and doesn't have any agency in the story. Everything happens to her. That doesn't exactly make for an interesting character... or an interesting story.

Pros: Military families will especially enjoy this book. Some of my duty stations while serving in the military required us to move often as well. This book would have been beautiful to read to my children before we moved overseas because they had some of the same concerns. Most kids want to know how to make friends and despise leaving their current friends. This book would have eased the pain of moving to an unknown place — a warm read for families that move often.

Cons: There was one part where I was confused about the weather. One of the parents said the kids could play outside, but it was full of snow, and they had no coats one. I chuckled at this, but completely understood because kids love to play without warm outerwear. Overall, a good read for those looking to move to a new place.