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UNCOVERED!

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Super top-secret briefing. Hands off, kiddo.*

* i.e., no nobodies peeking.

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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An utterly special message from me, Clarice Bean. . . .

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Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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FROM THE DESK OF CLARICE BEAN

This is me, Clarice Bean. And you will know, if you know me, that I am exceptionordinarily keen on the Ruby Redfort books, which everyone has heard of even if they live on Mars (which no one does at the moment). Patricia F. Maplin Stacey wrote seven Ruby books but has stopped writing due to being aged and not with it. The good news is that Lauren Child is much younger and is going to take over and write the new Ruby Redfort books if she pulls up her socks and gets on with it.

The first book will be called,

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It is going to be published in actual hardback in March 2012, and it is the first one of six books all in the same series.
The thing I love about the Ruby Redfort series is that it is always exciting and quite impossible to imagine how Ruby will get out of whatever death-defying situation she is in. Mostly I spend the whole time behind a chair or grabbing a cushion. If you like death-defying situations as well as gadgets and a girl who is more tough than an archish villain, then you will love Ruby Redfort. If you dont then you are probably an Armpit. Which is what Ruby calls people who are dreadfully dreary. Someone who is an Armpit is my teacher Mrs. Wilberton. She says, The Ruby Redfort series is not a good example of the literature of our times. But if you look like a hippopotamus, it is hard to enjoy yourself. Now Im going to hand over to the Candlewick people because they will tell you more about the actual in fact facts which will not be dreary because nothing about Ruby Redfort could ever be dreary.

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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ow more n Want to k

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about the

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Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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RUBY REDFORT: THE NEW GENERATION

WHAT ARE THESE RUBY REDFORT BOOKS, THEN?
In the Clarice Bean books by Lauren Child, readers learn that Ruby Redfort was supposedly created by Patricia F. Maplin Stacey. Clarice Bean is Rubys number one fan, and so the Clarice Bean books are chock-full of Ruby references. Now multi-million-copy bestseller Lauren Child has stepped into the shoes of her made-up author Patricia F. Maplin Stacey to bring Ruby Redfort to life.

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THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW IS THAT ZILLIONS OF KIDS AROUND THE WORLD ARE ALREADY CLAMORING FOR RUBY REDFORT.

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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But hang on, didnt Patricia F. Maplin Stacey write the Ruby Redfort books? Whats going on?

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

MEET THE CREATORS: PATRICIA F. MAPLIN STACEY

The fictional author of the Ruby Redfort series as noted in the Clarice Bean books, Patricia F. Maplin Stacey was born in Connecticut in 1942. Later she moved to LA, where her vivacious personality, offbeat style, and dry wit quickly got her noticed. In 1964 she appeared in the cult movie When Dawn Becomes Night. But the Hollywood lifestyle was not for her, and in 1970 she retreated to a small apartment in Greenwich Village where she started work on the Ruby Redfort series. Initially turned down by the major publishing houses, her first title, There Was a Girl Named Ruby, was an almost immediate hit with kids and became an overnight bestseller. Patricia went on to write six more Ruby Redfort titles, and the series was made into one of the longest-running and most successful childrens TV series of all time. Now Lauren Child will write a new generation of Ruby Redfort titles. Patricia has been quoted as saying the time is right for a new, younger author to take Ruby to the next generation. Its been a great ride, she said, but its time to get off.

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LAUREN CHILD
Lauren Child is a clever code for the childrens author Lauren Child. Lauren Child is good at writing detective books because she watched far too much TV as a child. She first introduced the character of Ruby Redfort in her three award-winning, bestselling Clarice Bean novels. Since then she has been inundated with letters from fans asking for the Ruby Redfort series. Well, here it is! As a child, she loved the novels of Patricia F. Maplin Stacey. She still cant believe her luck that she gets to write her own Ruby books. Ruby is the best, she says. Youd better believe it, buster. Lauren lives in hiding and communicates only in unbreakable codes. Despite this, she has somehow managed to win lots of prizes, including the Nestl Smarties/Childrens Book Prize (twice), the Kate Greenaway Medal, the Red House Childrens Book Award, and the National Literary Association of England WOW Award. Her books have sold more than 3 million copies around the world.

MARCUS DU SAUTOY
Code consultant Marcus du Sautoy, OBE, is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, and a famous fan of Arsenal football club. A world-renowned number theorist, he is also the author of several popular books on math, including The Music of the Primes. He is responsible for the codes in Ruby Redfort, which marks something of a departure for him: having spent many years in books and newspapers attempting to simplify and explain mathematical concepts, he is now devoting himself to making whole sections of the Ruby books more difficult to understand.

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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So, whats the story?

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Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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Ruby Redford is a code-cracking genius and daring detective who works for a secret crime-busting organization called SPECTRUM. But even a kid as clever as Ruby doesnt get to be a special agent overnight. Look into My Eyes takes readers back to the very beginning and tells the story of how Ruby came to take her place among SPECTRUMs elite agents and solved her first major crime.

I am looking for Ruby Redfort, said the voice. Well you found her, replied Ruby. Good, so now that Ive found you, all youve got to do is find me.
Not much ruffles Ruby Redforts feathers, but when an anonymous caller sets her a challenge, its not long before shes lowering herself down a manhole, crawling through a dark tunnel, and finding her way into the HQ of the most secret of secret agencies SPECTRUM. They need her help to crack a code, but her desk job soon spirals into an all-out action adventure, as Ruby uncovers the dastardly plans of the formidable Fools Gold Gang.

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So what is SPECTRUM?
is a secret agency, a very secret agency. . . . To put it simply, we work outside the government but not against the government, if you know what I mean.
SPECTRUM

So what youre saying is, youre the good guys, said Ruby. We like to think we are the good, good guys, but good guys will do. Everyone always thinks theyre the good guys, said Ruby. Yes they do, said L.B. But happily for us, we are.

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

MEET RUBY
The most striking thing about Ruby Redfort was that when you met her you feel a strong need for her to like you.
Ruby lives in an eccentric house designed by a famous architect, and her parents are fabulously rich socialites. Ruby Redfort works for a secret organization called SPECTRUM that her parents dont know anything about. She gets into lots of tricky situations with evil villains, like being trapped in a giant hourglass by Count von Viscount, but shes always ice-cool in a crisis. Ruby has lots of GADGETS, which are usually disguised as everyday objects:

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* * *
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A lifesaving rescue watch Mini-locator key ring Voice-throwing dog whistle A toaster that also converts into a fax machine. If you press the button down, a secret message gets transmitted from Rubys boss at SPECTRUM.

Ruby Redfort popping up March 27, 2012

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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RUBYS TALENT
Probably the most important thing you need to know, though, is that Ruby is super amazing at breaking codes. When Ruby was just seven years old she won the junior code cracker championships solving the famous Eisenhauser conundrum in just seventeen days and fortyseven minutes. The following year she entered the Junior Code Creator Contest and stunned the judges when they found her code utterly impossible to break. In the end it was sent to Harvard University professors, who eventually managed to solve it two weeks later.

RUBYS RULES
Ruby has lots of rules for being a good spy/agent. Here are some Ruby Redfort rules:

RULE 1
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You can never be completely sure what might happen next.

RULE 18 People often miss the downright obvious. RULE 33 More often than not, there is a very ordinary explanation
for the extraordinary happening.

RUBY TALK

Bored beyond

belief
Oh, brother Give me a break,

bozo.

total yawn.

This is a

What is this,

GEEK CENTRAL?

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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RUBYS WORLD
Rubys world is 1970s retro-chic with a twist! Its Lauren Childs fantasy version of that super-groovy time. But SPECTRUM gives Ruby access to the future: their gadgets are cutting

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edge, baby.

The world Ruby lives in is real but not real at the same time. It has schools and houses and hedges just like anywhere else, but it also has subterranean secret agencies. Its all about wish-fulfilment, buster!

Ruby world is a world of escapist glamour. Think Hitchcock; think Charlies Angels: the School Years; think B-movie villains; think Inspector Gadget; think a Tarantino movie for kids. Without the inappropriate content, obviously.

Rubys world is self-contained, and can provide any setting. Rubys hometown of Twinford is situated on the California coast next to snow-capped, forest-covered mountains, sandy pebble beaches, parched deserts, safe suburbs, and edgy, bustling city streets with cool friendly diners. . . . You name it, Twinfords got it!

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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NOW STEP INTO RUBYS WORLD, AND MEET THE GOOD GUYS AND THE BAD GUYS. . . .

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Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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THE GOOD GUYS

HITCH:
Hitch is Rubys butler. He wears sharp suits, drives a cool sports car, and always has Rubys back because he is also a Spectrum agent. He does all this secret-agent stuff for Ruby, and everyone thinks he is just a butler and he is, but not just. He can make you a mean eggs benedict while fighting off an assassin. He drives Ruby around, he rescues her whenever shes in serious trouble, and he brings her breakfast. Hes so handsome he can make you forget your own name.

CLANCY CREW
Clancy Crew is Rubys best friend. He is an ambassadors son and his family is very wealthy but he is also very clever, in a sideways sort of way and funny. Hes an original. Clancy is very good at keeping secrets, and is totally completely loyal. He is brilliant at having good hunches about people, which is why he is usually always helping Ruby out of tight spots.

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RUBYS PARENTS
Rubys parents are named Brant and Sabina Redfort, and they are socialites. They know nothing about her secret life as a mystery solver and special agent because Ruby gives them nothing to be suspicious about. Sometimes she stuffs pillows under the quilt so it looks like shes actually asleep when really shes fifteen-and-abit thousand miles away and not wearing her pajamas at all but probably instead a furry jacket, up a steep mountain.

MRS. DIGBY
Rubys housekeeper, Mrs. Digby, is a tough old bird and one hell of a survivor. She also makes good cookies. Mrs. Digby is probably one of the smallest and most determined people one could meet, and she would do anything for the Redforts. She has been their housekeeper since long before Ruby was born and before that she took care of Rubys mother. It wont surprise you then to know that she is getting on in years, but no one is exactly sure of her age.

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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SPECTRUM

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E C

S N

R O

D E

baked beans.

SPECTRUM AGENTS
LB: The voice of Spectrum. Gives Ruby her instructions and missions. Super-organized, superbrainy, super-tough. Works at the headquarters in

HITCH: You know all about him already. BUZZ: Answers the phones, and there are lots of them. Why is she called Buzz? Nobody knows. FROGHORN: A prime bozo.

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

THE BAD GUYS VAPONA BUGWART BEGWELL

Rubys archenemy. She isnt a villain as such but she is very mean and makes Rubys life a total misery at school. She says horrible things to Ruby like, Hey, Ruby, can you see out of those glasses, because my suggestion would be, dont look in the mirror if you dont wanna give yourself a fright.

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HOG-TROTTER
Ugly, in a comical way. But he is not as funny as he looks. Where HogTrotter is concerned its always wise to bear in mind the clich never judge a villain by his face however ugly it may be. He is strangely good at second-guessing people and quite the intellectual.

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BABY FACE MARSHALL

A green-eyed, sweet-looking man. But this little fellow always surprises everybody. Hes a cold-blooded killer. If you see Baby Face, dont bother calling for mommy. Just run!

VALERIE CAPALDI, AKA NINE-LIVES CAPALDI

Very pretty, but with a scar across her left eye. Decadent and very stylish. Has a diamond-encrusted revolver.

COUNT VON VISCOUNT

Looks like Dracula in an old B movie. Long, elegant nose, and the chiseled cheekbones of a gothic villain. You can recognize a Count von Viscount crime because it is always bizarrely melodramatic. If someone is dangling you over a bubbling volcano rather than just dropping you in it, then it is almost bound to be the Count.

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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So you should utterly read a bit you will literally be on the edge of your wits.
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Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s

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An exceptionordinarily good bit:
e Wizard of Oz. d Dorothy will

I have devised What a wonderf

something

for you its rather splendid

straight out of Th

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en if only som at could have be e

eone with a little

imagination ha

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sand has fallen.

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to screen!

tone. e Wests mocking icked Witch of th t, adopting the W with jadety said the Coun will begin to fill ell now, my pret W u are sitting in yo even, the tower rikes half past el hen the clock st W s. gruesome a giant hourglas ed alive in it was green sand like ir, but to be buri sand in her ha e had never liked Ruby winced. Sh thrillers. . . . of Mrs. Digbys et, had seen in any she , kept in his pock beyond anything ioned timepiece was an old-fash watch it nt looked at his e you. Count von Viscou gret I must leav er, and now I re es on, howev n. Time march secured by a chai hook just watch at a metal eady, aimed the st g her wrist very chair and, holdin by stood on the Ru inder button. d down on the w the cable slid dow, and presse d the hook, and above the win ached out, misse e grabber claw re anium cable. Th Out shot the tit This was true, ve time for this. down the wall. me on, I dont ha ied again. Co tracted it and tr bingo! the claw Ruby quickly re aim again, and chair. She took e seat of the whisked ready reached th ing herself to be the sand had al e retractor, brac d th her eyes, presse ok. Ruby closed ed around the ho clos ing happened. air . . . but noth eed through the at lightning sp hat you do! u rescue, thats w ue gadget and yo Spy gadgets are a resc . You cant jam! No, no, no! You as filling up fast d the tower w vering her feet an The sand was co ill nothing. essed again st split second . . . nothing for one dont jam! She pr e button again e pressed th but not now! Sh high above OK, you can jam and carried away d from the chair wrenche ddenly Ruby was and then quite su dge. to the window le the sand and on

nger be sure th d she could no lo

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Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes by Lauren Child * C a n d l e w i C k P r e s s