Ruth Chew

Youtuber BlackMaleASMR, who specializes in soothing speech recordings to “help you fall asleep, relax, or experience tingles” randomly picked up a vintage Ruth Chew book for free and read the first two chapters aloud. You wouldn’t think the story would be engaging, read in a low, slow monotone… but it kind of is! Enjoy.

The Japanese translations of Ruth Chew’s books continued with another three color-coordinated books published in 2016.

See my post at spjg.com for photos of the interiors.

Behold volumes 22, 23, and 24 of the Japanese series.

Wrong Way Around Magic

The Trouble with Magic

Summer Magic

Another Ruth Chew story was released this month. This time, it’s Witch in the House.

Buy Witch in the House at Amazon.

I’m fond of this one because (as far as I know) it’s the only one that’s been translated into Chinese!

A few years back, I found a used copy listed on a Chinese website. A colleague of mine made the purchase and had it sent from Taiwan to Singapore, where I live.

One interesting characteristic of the book is that the spine is on the right; the front cover is the back cover and vice versa!

The Chinese title, 糊涂巫婆 (Hútú wūpó), apparently means “confused witch”.

Fair enough!

More about the various editions of Witch in the House.

Ruth Chew’s best-loved book, The Wednesday Witch, was released in paperback and digital formats in late August, along with Witch’s Broom.

If you pre-ordered the hardcover, your order was cancelled. The hardcover edition is not currently offered for sale. There is no known release date.

Nevertheless, we are happy that this classic story can be part of our Halloween celebrations this year.

Later this month (October 20th), look out for the e-book version of Three Adventure Tales, which includes:

• Last Chance for Magic
• Magic of the Black Mirror
• Summer Magic

I’ve updated the foreign editions page to reflect the fact that the series of Japanese translations of Ruth Chew’s books has hit 21 volumes as of April 2015.

I only have the first nine, but apparently it’s possible to shop on Amazon Japan in English, buy with any credit card, and get international shipping, so that situation is temporary. Luckily, even the ones from back in 2010 still seem to be available.

Twelve more books I am completely not able to read, soon to be mine!

To be fair, I did understand the three words of the title of one of them (Witch’s Cat). I know slightly more than absolutely zero Japanese.

It’s interesting that the hyphen in ‘second-hand’ has been dispensed with off and on in the various editions of this book. As it happens, I approve of leaving the hyphen out.

• preorder at Amazon
• preorder at Book Depository
• more about Secondhand Magic

The Penguin / Random House website is now linking here! Sort of. That text isn’t clickable. Ah well. I’m happy as long as ruthchew.com beats Wikipedia (and Amazon and Goodreads) in Google search results.

Actually, you know what? I don’t even care about that.

I care that the books are reaching a new generation, thanks to Random House.

Happy 2015!

Amazon is now displaying jacket art for three more Ruth Chew reissues! The Wednesday Witch and Witch’s Broomwill be released in hardcover, paperback and ebook versions on August 25, 2015. The ebook Three Shrinking Tales, which will be released April 28, 2015, contains Do-It-Yourself Magic, Earthstar Magic, and Mostly Magic.

The release of The Wednesday Witch is particularly exciting: it was Ruth Chew’s first story!

The e-book Three Adventure Tales, which is available for preorder and will be released August 25, 2015, contains Last Chance for Magic, Magic of the Black Mirror, and Summer Magic. I don’t yet know what its cover will look like, though!

Preorder at Amazon:

• The Wednesday Witch (paperback, hardcover or ebook)
• Witch’s Broom (paperback, hardcover or ebook)
• Three Shrinking Tales (ebook only)
• Three Adventure Tales (ebook only)

My friend downloaded a sample of The Trouble with Magic on her Kindle Voyage. Here’s what it looks like! You can see the cover, a chapter beginning with small text, a chapter beginning with bigger text, and one of the interior illustrations.