The Eight Year Old Crone

How a look at my favorite childhood books made me wonder-Am I living my childhood dream by becoming an eccentric old woman?

Joyce Carol Oates is often quoted about the influence of her favorite childhood book, Alice in Wonderland in her work. This childhood book, given to her by a beloved grandmother, was the doorway to her life as a writer.

Which made me wonder, “Did any books from my childhood have such profound influence on me, my  life, and my writing?”

It turns out, they did, and I never realized it until this week.

My Favorite Childhood Books

The delivery day for the Scholastic Books orders was always the highlight of my years in elementary school. I never knew the day it would happen, but when I walked into the classroom and noticed a cardboard shipping box sitting under my teacher’s desk, my heart would race, and I could hardly sit still. At the end of the day, my teacher would call each child up and give them their order-it was one of the only times I didn’t mind being called to the front of the classroom.

My order often had a book or two by author Ruth Chew. Her witch books were my fascination during the early years of my reading life. The Wednesday Witch, The Witch’s Garden, and Earthstar Magic…the list goes on and on. She wrote and illustrated 29 books in her writing life and I read the majority.

As I mulled over which books impacted me as a child, these books seemed like they could have little to do with shaping my life, but as I turned them over in my mind, some very interesting influences started to push into my consciousness. And, when I began to research Ruth Chew and her books, I was surprised to find coincidences that seemed almost magical to me.

Ruth Chew

Ruth Chew’s childhood influence was E. Nesbit, an author of children’s fantasy books that I, myself, discovered and loved when I was in my 30s. Ruth Chew loved Nesbit’s books so much she even had five children because almost all of Nesbit’s books featured the adventure of five children. (Talk about your childhood books, influencing your life.)

Before she was married and had all those children, she worked as a fashion illustrator but then quit to raise her brood. Years later, she tried to find work illustrating children’s books but wasn’t successful and decided she would write her own children’s books and illustrate those. She published her first book, The Wednesday Witch, at age 49.

Looking back on those books and wondering if they affected me, I now see what I loved about them. They were domestic novels. The witches lived in rambling houses, cooked and gardened, and rode canister vacuums instead of brooms. They seemed evil to the neighborhood children, but the brave child usually discovered that they were, in fact, often helpful, if a little eccentric.

According to her official website, Ruth Chew believed you should write what you know and most of her book’s settings were based on her beloved house and neighborhood in Brooklyn.

It seems almost magical to me now that I loved these books. Was I a childhood witch, fortunetelling my own future by reading these books or (more likely) were these stories tucked away in my brain, affecting decisions and building preferences in my life? I can’t help but think there was a little both.

I didn’t know anything about Ruth Chew. I didn’t know she loved E. Nesbit, or that she didn’t restart her career until she was older. Much of my own writing contains the things I know-my memories, and cozy domesticity. I got started late writing, after failing as an artist.

I can’t help but look at my life and feel a kinship to the witches of Ruth Chew’s books. My garden is filled with herbs that I use to support my health. I love to cook and hope that my food brings cures and changes moods to people who I feed. I’m a little eccentric too, reading tarot cards and dressing a little more creatively than most women my age. Did I, at the tender age of eight, wish for this life? Have I been waiting all these years to be a crone?

It is a surprising revelation to draw the similarities of my current personality and interests to those of my reading proclivities when I was young. I’m eager to find my old copy of The Wednesday Witch and see what other life lessons it holds for me.

Now I want to know about you. What did you love to read as a child? Do you think that it influenced your life now?

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At the Check-Out Desk….

I had 28 glorious hours home alone last weekend. My husband went off to a fencing tournament from Friday at noon and didn’t return until Saturday evening. I haven’t had a such a large block of time home alone in almost three years. I had intended to have a writer’s retreat but honestly, I spent the weekend just relaxing. I watched movies-Babette’s Feast and a documentary, Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in Service of the Mind (which inspired this post, so see? I was working!), and read inspiring Substacks like Encore by Helen Conway (you must read this post about finding creative stability).

I also caught up with Dr. Sharon Blackie’s Fairy Tale Salons and watched her discussion about the story of The Woman Who Became a Fox, a fascinating talk about figuring out who we are in this “second act” of life. (I’m telling you, I’m all about witches and fairy tales lately.) I thought it was especially interesting since my word of the year is ‘Foxy’. What a coincidence, right?

I hope you are finding some solitude in which to read, write, watch, learn too.