James Otis wrote a series of books depicting life in the new colonies, written from a child's point of view. Ruth of Boston is the story of 12 year old Ruth, coming from London to live in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It gives accounts of what a girl's daily life might have been like during the beginnings of this colony. James Otis Kaler (March 19, 1848 — December 11, 1912) was an American journalist and author of children’s literature. He used the pen name James Otis.