When I was a child I had most, if not all, of Ruth Chew's books. I must have really enjoyed them as I kept buying them. But at some point, unlike many of my favorite children's books, I got rid of all the Chew books so I must have recognized they weren't quite on the same level as some of the classics and they weren't ageless. That recollection about matches my experience with this reread. Its a pleasant book and I can see why at age 8 I might have enjoyed it. But it doesn't hold up ultimately for me as adult. I can't enjoy it the way I did at 8 the way I can rereading the Little House series or the Betsy Tacy series.I reread this one because I was looking for some books for Halloween presents for some friend's children. All of Chew's books that I am familiar with have something to do with witches. They aren't dark scary stories. They generally involve non scary neighborhood witches as is the case in this story. There is a brother and sister and their new neighbor upstairs is a witch who is essentially talented with cooking brownies that enable them to talk with animals. The children learn some lessons from their experiences and help out the witch in a difficult situation.All in all a pleasant simple story but not anything exceptional about it. I think I will end up gifting it to my friend's children because I did enjoy rereading it at their age and I'm running out of books to give them for Halloween that are appropriate for this age.I was torn between giving it 2 or 3 stars. My reading experience today is a 2 but my experience at 8 would have been a 3. Since its aimed for 8 year olds more than adults, I'll go with my childhood grade.
I figure I must have read this when I was about ten. Any book I can remember after three and a half decades must be at least halfway decent, right? Actually I recalled this book and The Witch's Buttons a couple years ago; I looked up some info about Ruth Chew online and was astonished to learn she'd passed away just a few days before. Now that my daughter's four, I tracked a used copy of this title (long since out of print) and we read it over the past week, three chapters a night. It's a sweet tale about two kids in Brooklyn. Their townhouse neighbor just might be a witch. It all revolves around animals and magical fudge. If you're looking for anything even mildly spooky you'll be disappointed, but it's fun for very young kids.1/2014: My daughter (almost six now) demanded I read this to her again.
The idea behind this short chapter book is very sweet and clever. A brother and sister who, with the help of some magical fudge, get to talk and interact with animals. I didn't love it, though. It really bothered me that they stole so many pieces of fudge and Maggie never said anything to them. Also, the kids lied repeatedly to the adults in the book. I liked it well enough, however, to try other books by the author. I'm guessing that the more books I read of the series, the more I will like them. It will be easy to booktalk, best for grades 2 and 3.
—Alavare
My daughter struggled to read in first grade and wasn't doing so well in second grade either until she discovered Ruth Chew's books. Like magic, my child suddenly loved reading, and by the time she'd read every Ruth Chew book that existed, she was "a reader."Now I'm tutoring a second grader who has found the same sort of magic in Chew's work. In this particular story, Nora and her brother Ted, are told by their mother -- over and over -- that there's "no such thing as a witch." The two children know better. They are certain that their new next door neighbor is a witch but it takes them a while (and a few adventures such as turning into a cat or a mouse) to determine if she is a good witch or a bad witch. Great fun!
—Sheila Welch
