Ruth Chew is back in print! According to Ruthchew.com, Random House has republished her books.
Do you ever feel nostalgic for the books that made you a reader? Her books were the first on my list when visiting the school or community library, at least until I was in sixth grade. They were even a little young for me then, but it didn't matter. Her tales of normal kids having extraordinary magical adventures made me believe that magic existed somewhere in the world; I just had to find it.
I even experimented with my own Ruth Chew-inspired story as a child want-to-be author. The story went something like this: Two kids were charged with helping their mom clean the house. They run out of cleaner, so mom sends them on an errand to buy some more. They, of course, purchase it at a strange shop they'd never seen before. When they spray a mirror with the cleaner, something magical happens.
That story remains unfinished, but my desire to read and write grew from this kernel of imagination. I just purchased a biography about Ruth Chew written by her daughter. It turns out there was much more to this woman than the books I greedily ingested.
Another favorite childhood read is Encyclopedia Brown. I received a box set for a Christmas gift after dragging so many of the books home from the library. When my family took a cross-country trip on Greyhound, I left my box set on the bus. This still makes me sad.
If you don't know of this child detective, you missed out! He was the smartest kid around, knowing enough trivia to solve all his friends' mysteries with his own detective agency. I've been a mystery buff ever since.
What author made you a reader for life? Please share in a comment! And if you are a fellow Ruth Chew or Encylopedia Brown devotee, let me know I'm not alone. 😊
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