Description
The second book in the 11 Ruby Road series set in the roaring 1920s - perfect period fiction formiddle-grade readers and for fans of the Our Australian Girl series.
It is 1925 and Bert Mueller and his German-Australian family have moved from Ipswich to their new house at 11 Ruby Road. Bert’s father has been deported to Germany after the Great War, and with Dad still absent, Bert is unsure about moving away. But the city means opportunity and jobs for his mother and older siblings. And for the grown-ups, it also means fun - dressing up, going out, and all that jazz. Bert loves jazz too, but he’s too young for the clubs, and instead his time is spent at his new school where the kids play cricket, not music.
But with the help of a Gramophone, Bert has a solution. He will start his own jazz club, and 11 Ruby Road has the perfect spot to host it. But as prejudice about Bert and his German family start to affect their new life, Bert has to find a way to save his jazz club and his family.
Review
We were introduced to the house at 11 Ruby Road in our March Standing Order package, where our main character Dorothy, was a determined young girl who tried to make a difference in 1900.
This story fast forwards to the post-World War I time of 1925, and is it is the Mueller family who are now calling 11 Ruby Road home, with ten-year-old Bert the central character in this story.
Times are still hard, and with their father in Germany after being interned during the war, it is up to the children and their mother to make the most of what they have, running the store at Ruby Road and trying to make a new life. But with prejudice towards Germans still strong, the family try to anglicise themselves to fit in.
Having started late at school, Bert struggles to form strong connections, particularly as he loves music and the other kids all seem to be interested in cricket! His older brother, Carl, and his sister, Hildegarde get to go to the dances, but Bert is too young, and feels like he is missing out.
When he finds the play script that Dorothy wrote all those years ago in the undercroft of the house, and with it the gramophone that Dorothy has left behind, Bert decides that he will form his own Jazz Club! But with Alexander at school doing all he can sabotage things, will Bert be resilient enough to try and make things work?
This is a wonderful insight into life in Australia in 1925. Bert is a determined character and is full of ideas to try and make life better. This is a story that shows the hardship and prejudice that many went through, purely because of their names and where they originated from, but it is also a story of community, friendship and changing attitudes.
It will be enjoyed by readers in middle primary and up, particularly those who love historical fiction.
