It's 1930 . . . and Ruby Quinlan lives in a big house in Adelaide with her parents and her fox terrier, Baxter. As she prepares for her twelfth birthday party, Ruby has never been happier, but the world outside is experiencing harder times. Ruby knows that lots of people are losing their jobs, but her own family life seems comfortable and secure ... until things start falling apart.
Happy-go-lucky, compassionate and loving, Ruby is an unforgettable Australian Girl.

Penny Matthews (Author)
Penny Matthews is a freelance writer and editor based in Adelaide. She has written YA and junior novels, chapter books for beginning readers, and picture books for all age groups. Her picture books include Pudding and Chips (a CBCA Notable Book in 2005), Little Red Bear (shortlisted for the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards in 2004) and A Year On Our Farm, which was the CBCA's 2003 Book of the Year (Early Childhood) and a CBCA Honour Book in the Picture Book of the Year category. In 2010 Something About Water was joint winner of the Wilderness Society's Environment Award for Children's Literature. A Girl Like Me, her first young adult novel, was also a 2010 CBCA Notable Book and won the Sisters in Crime's 2011 Davitt Award for Young Adult Fiction.
Lucia Masciullo (Illustrator)
Lucia Masciullo grew up in Livorno, Tuscany. She moved to Australia in 2007 and since then she has been happily working as an illustrator. She has illustrated more than 30 books, among which are the CBCA Honour Book and Prime Minister Award short-listed Come Down, Cat! by Sonya Hartnett, as well as the Our Australian Girl series, Meet Katie at the Beach by Rebecca Johnson in the Aussie Kids series, and An A to Z of Dreaming Differently by Tracey Dembo. She now lives on the Gold Coast.