Last Chance for Magic

Matter-of-Fact Magic

by Ruth Chew

Terry and her brother Max enter a magical tunnel in their Brooklyn backyard and go back into history, to a time when the Lenape tribe occupied the same land

Genres: Childrens, Young Adult

128 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1996

About the author

Ruth Chew is the author of a number of popular books for young readers, including Secondhand Magic and The Wednesday Witch. She was born in Minneapolis and grew up in Washington, D.C. She studied art at the Corcoran School of Art and worked as a fashion artist. She was the mother of five children.

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the first chapter books that my very active 7 year old son actually sat and listened to me read to him. He loved it and had lots of questions while we were reading. A book that peeked his curiosity and was a look into history in a kid friendly way. I will be finding more Ruth Chew chapter books for us to read together. One of my favorite childhood books was also by Ruth Chew.. What the Witch Left.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet little time travel story featuring the usual brother-sister pair. A fine read for the last book of the year!

[Denzil Pugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick review... a second grader would probably enjoy the book, but have questions about the plot that no one could answer. The plot has holes in it, mainly dealing with the foreignness of the children in the Native American village. There seems to be no questioning their clothing, language, etc... Also, while I don't usually like a message bluntly asserted into a book (environmental, social, or otherwise), this one had very little moral applications to it, unlike other books of this grade range. I would recommend a book called "The Secret Hideout," for those around this reading level.

[HeavyReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

This later (1996) book by Ruth Chew was much better than I expected it to be. I was prepared to hate it, but it wasn't too bad.

The ending was rather abrupt, as if Chew had a word quota and as soon as she reached it, she wrapped everything up and it was done.

There was no explanation of why the magic happened.

If the modern day kids in this book had real love for their Leni-Lenape friends, they would have told the Indians to kill on sight any white people they saw in the future.

[Angie Lisle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruth Chew was one of my favorite authors as a kid - I still enjoy the magic woven in her stories!

[Kaijsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story, very similar to Summer Magic.