Lenona
2010-05-18 02:23:09 UTC
Only one short notice so far:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/15/AR2010051503358.html
"She died of pneumonia May 13 [2010] in Castro Valley, Calif."
I was only two miles off - I'd assumed, some weeks ago, by searching
under Ruth Silver in the not-so-reliable Zabasearch.com, that she was
living in Hayward, CA!
But for all I know, Castro Valley was only where the hospital was - or
at least not her home.
She'd lived in Brooklyn much of her life but, for health reasons, had
to move to northern California in early 2001 to be near her daughter.
All(?) of her books at least start in Brooklyn.
"Baked Beans for Breakfast" is about two Brooklyn kids, maybe aged 9
and 11, who trick their rotten, mean babysitter into thinking they've
gone to be with their grandmother for the summer when, in fact,
they've run away and gone to the usual woodsy camp site in Hawley,
Pennsylvania (their parents are in Europe).
On the back cover:
"Joe, we shouldn't have run away!" Kathleen was suddenly afraid. But
her brother knew there was no turning back now. Every minute the bus
was taking them farther away from their home in Brooklyn.
"Just think, Kath," Joe said. "We can camp out at the lake all by
ourselves. It will be a lot more fun than staying in the city all
summer long."
"A lot more fun," thought Kathleen, "and a lot more scary!"
I LOVE that book, in part because of its portrait of the polite old
woman vs. the mean babysitter who only likes children under a certain
age, and I wish she'd written one more non-fantasy book, but the
fantasies are fine too, of course. My favorite is "What the Witch
Left" because of her description of the Mexican marketplace and her
subtle portrait of Pilar's bargaining tactics - she speaks fast and
loudly to the boy vendor who's her age, quietly to the young Mexican
man, and she plays dumb with the American customer.
The fast-paced "No Such Thing as a Witch" is fun too, though the
description on the back scared me away from reading it for a while:
"Watch out for Maggie Brown—the new next-door neighbor! And beware of
Maggie's homemade fudge!
Maggie is NOT an ordinary person. Her fudge is NOT ordinary fudge.
One piece of the fudge makes you love animals.
If you eat two pieces of fudge you will understand animal language.
Three pieces make you act like an animal.
And if you eat four pieces… HELP!"
I am APPALLED there is only one entry for Chew (in 1975?) in over 150
volumes of the "Something About the Author" encyclopedia series.
Especially since she wrote about two-thirds of her books after that!
Writers more obscure than she have received two or more entries, and I
think Maurice Sendak has four to date.
www.ruthchew.com
Here's another good site about her:
http://tinyurl.com/3t2ar
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~aahobor/Lucy-Day/Authors/Chew.shtml
(same? It includes pictures of the covers.)
http://ruthchew.com/about-the-books/index.htm
(includes covers and descriptions - includes spoilers)
http://www.ruthchew.com/about-the-author/index.htm
(photo and bio)
http://www.ruthchew.com/about-the-books/foreign-editions.htm
(Includes a few covers by foreign(?) illustrators. Her books have
been translated into Japanese and Spanish.)
http://www.ruthchew.com/links.htm
(reader reviews and more)
From the S.A.T.A. entry:
"When my children were small I told them stories to stop them crying
or to induce them to eat. I confess to being an imitator of E.
Nesbit........I speak pigeon French and have travelled extensively. I
collect, identify, and consume wild mushrooms."
Bibliography:
The Wednesday Witch, Scholastic Book Services, 1969.
Baked Beans for Breakfast, Scholastic Book Services, 1970, published
as The Secret Summer, 1974.
No Such Thing as a Witch, Scholastic Book Services, 1971.
Magic in the Park, Scholastic Book Services, 1972.
What the Witch Left, Scholastic Book Services, 1973.
The Hidden Cave, Scholastic Book Services, 1973, published as The
Magic Cave, Hastings House, 1978.
The Witch's Buttons, Scholastic Book Services, 1974.
The Secret Tree House, Scholastic Book Services, 1974.
Witch in the House, Scholastic Book Services, 1975.
The Would-Be Witch, Scholastic Book Services, 1976.
The Trouble with Magic, Scholastic Book Services, 1976.
Summer Magic, Scholastic Book Services, 1977.
Witch's Broom, Dodd, 1977.
The Witch's Garden, Scholastic Book Services, 1978.
Earthstar Magic, Scholastic Book Services, 1979.
The Wishing Tree, Hastings House, 1980.
Secondhand Magic, Holiday House, 1981.
Mostly Magic, Holiday House, 1982.
The Magic Coin, Scholastic, Inc., 1983.
The Witch at the Window, Scholastic, Inc., 1984.
Trapped in Time, Scholastic, Inc., 1986.
Do It Yourself Magic, Scholastic, Inc., 1987.
The Witch and the Ring, Scholastic, Inc., 1989.
Magic of the Black Mirror, Scholastic, Inc., 1990.
Wrong Way Around Magic, Scholastic, 1993.
Witch's Cat, The (1994)
Last Chance for Magic (1996)
Magic of the Black Mirror (1996)
The Enchanted Book (1998)
ILLUSTRATOR
Carol Morse, Three Cheers for Polly, Doubleday, 1967.
E. W. Hildick, The Questers, Hawthorn, 1970.
Val Abbott, The Mystery of the Ghost Bell, Dodd, 1971.
Ann McGovern, Shark Lady, Scholastic Book Services, 1978.
Lenona.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/15/AR2010051503358.html
"She died of pneumonia May 13 [2010] in Castro Valley, Calif."
I was only two miles off - I'd assumed, some weeks ago, by searching
under Ruth Silver in the not-so-reliable Zabasearch.com, that she was
living in Hayward, CA!
But for all I know, Castro Valley was only where the hospital was - or
at least not her home.
She'd lived in Brooklyn much of her life but, for health reasons, had
to move to northern California in early 2001 to be near her daughter.
All(?) of her books at least start in Brooklyn.
"Baked Beans for Breakfast" is about two Brooklyn kids, maybe aged 9
and 11, who trick their rotten, mean babysitter into thinking they've
gone to be with their grandmother for the summer when, in fact,
they've run away and gone to the usual woodsy camp site in Hawley,
Pennsylvania (their parents are in Europe).
On the back cover:
"Joe, we shouldn't have run away!" Kathleen was suddenly afraid. But
her brother knew there was no turning back now. Every minute the bus
was taking them farther away from their home in Brooklyn.
"Just think, Kath," Joe said. "We can camp out at the lake all by
ourselves. It will be a lot more fun than staying in the city all
summer long."
"A lot more fun," thought Kathleen, "and a lot more scary!"
I LOVE that book, in part because of its portrait of the polite old
woman vs. the mean babysitter who only likes children under a certain
age, and I wish she'd written one more non-fantasy book, but the
fantasies are fine too, of course. My favorite is "What the Witch
Left" because of her description of the Mexican marketplace and her
subtle portrait of Pilar's bargaining tactics - she speaks fast and
loudly to the boy vendor who's her age, quietly to the young Mexican
man, and she plays dumb with the American customer.
The fast-paced "No Such Thing as a Witch" is fun too, though the
description on the back scared me away from reading it for a while:
"Watch out for Maggie Brown—the new next-door neighbor! And beware of
Maggie's homemade fudge!
Maggie is NOT an ordinary person. Her fudge is NOT ordinary fudge.
One piece of the fudge makes you love animals.
If you eat two pieces of fudge you will understand animal language.
Three pieces make you act like an animal.
And if you eat four pieces… HELP!"
I am APPALLED there is only one entry for Chew (in 1975?) in over 150
volumes of the "Something About the Author" encyclopedia series.
Especially since she wrote about two-thirds of her books after that!
Writers more obscure than she have received two or more entries, and I
think Maurice Sendak has four to date.
www.ruthchew.com
Here's another good site about her:
http://tinyurl.com/3t2ar
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~aahobor/Lucy-Day/Authors/Chew.shtml
(same? It includes pictures of the covers.)
http://ruthchew.com/about-the-books/index.htm
(includes covers and descriptions - includes spoilers)
http://www.ruthchew.com/about-the-author/index.htm
(photo and bio)
http://www.ruthchew.com/about-the-books/foreign-editions.htm
(Includes a few covers by foreign(?) illustrators. Her books have
been translated into Japanese and Spanish.)
http://www.ruthchew.com/links.htm
(reader reviews and more)
From the S.A.T.A. entry:
"When my children were small I told them stories to stop them crying
or to induce them to eat. I confess to being an imitator of E.
Nesbit........I speak pigeon French and have travelled extensively. I
collect, identify, and consume wild mushrooms."
Bibliography:
The Wednesday Witch, Scholastic Book Services, 1969.
Baked Beans for Breakfast, Scholastic Book Services, 1970, published
as The Secret Summer, 1974.
No Such Thing as a Witch, Scholastic Book Services, 1971.
Magic in the Park, Scholastic Book Services, 1972.
What the Witch Left, Scholastic Book Services, 1973.
The Hidden Cave, Scholastic Book Services, 1973, published as The
Magic Cave, Hastings House, 1978.
The Witch's Buttons, Scholastic Book Services, 1974.
The Secret Tree House, Scholastic Book Services, 1974.
Witch in the House, Scholastic Book Services, 1975.
The Would-Be Witch, Scholastic Book Services, 1976.
The Trouble with Magic, Scholastic Book Services, 1976.
Summer Magic, Scholastic Book Services, 1977.
Witch's Broom, Dodd, 1977.
The Witch's Garden, Scholastic Book Services, 1978.
Earthstar Magic, Scholastic Book Services, 1979.
The Wishing Tree, Hastings House, 1980.
Secondhand Magic, Holiday House, 1981.
Mostly Magic, Holiday House, 1982.
The Magic Coin, Scholastic, Inc., 1983.
The Witch at the Window, Scholastic, Inc., 1984.
Trapped in Time, Scholastic, Inc., 1986.
Do It Yourself Magic, Scholastic, Inc., 1987.
The Witch and the Ring, Scholastic, Inc., 1989.
Magic of the Black Mirror, Scholastic, Inc., 1990.
Wrong Way Around Magic, Scholastic, 1993.
Witch's Cat, The (1994)
Last Chance for Magic (1996)
Magic of the Black Mirror (1996)
The Enchanted Book (1998)
ILLUSTRATOR
Carol Morse, Three Cheers for Polly, Doubleday, 1967.
E. W. Hildick, The Questers, Hawthorn, 1970.
Val Abbott, The Mystery of the Ghost Bell, Dodd, 1971.
Ann McGovern, Shark Lady, Scholastic Book Services, 1978.
Lenona.