If you ask me, this was the worst book of the series (not to say it was bad, just not as good as the first two), but if you ask my daughter, this was the best one. So, take what you will from that. These books are written in present tense so in order for the author to divulge Ruby's past, most of the book consisted of Ruby telling a story to the other characters, and that narrative style always kind of takes me out of things. It was still a great little book with wonderful characters, and if you're going to read The One and Only Ivan, I will always recommend reading the entire series, this one just wasn't my favorite of them. My 11-year-old has plenty of positive arguments for Ruby, though, so maybe you should just listen to her.