Three Shrinking Tales Read online

  Also by Ruth Chew

  MAGIC IN THE PARK

  NO SUCH THING AS A WITCH

  THE TROUBLE WITH MAGIC

  WHAT THE WITCH LEFT

  THE WITCH AT THE WINDOW

  THE WOULD-BE WITCH

  THREE WISHING TALES

  (AN EBOOK OMNIBUS):

  THE MAGIC COIN

  THE MAGIC CAVE

  THE WISHING TREE

  THREE WITCH TALES

  (AN EBOOK OMNIBUS):

  THE WITCH’S BUTTONS

  WITCH’S CAT

  THE WITCH’S GARDEN

  This is a 2015 Stepping Stones ebook.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Do-It-Yourself Magic copyright © 1987 by Ruth Chew

  Earthstar Magic copyright © 1979 by Ruth Chew

  Mostly Magic copyright © 1982 by Ruth Chew

  Cover art copyright © 2015 by David Hohn

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  The three works comprising this collection were originally published separately by Scholastic, Inc., New York, in 1979, 1982, and 1987.

  Do-It-Yourself Magic was originally published in paperback as The Build-Anything Kit by Scholastic, Inc., New York.

  Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Visit us on the Web!

  SteppingStonesBooks.com

  randomhousekids.com

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  eBook ISBN 9780449815908

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v4.1

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  Contents

  Cover

  Also by Ruth Chew

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Do-It-Yourself Magic

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Earthstar Magic

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Mostly Magic

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  About the Author

  “Wow! Rachel, look at that!” Scott Walker grabbed his sister’s arm and dragged her over to the shop window of the big discount store on Church Avenue.

  Rachel looked at a red and green model car in the window. “That looks like those funny-looking cars we saw racing each other at the fair in the country last summer.”

  “It’s a stock car racer,” Scott said.

  Rachel looked hard at the car. “There’s no price.” She saw a flat box with a picture of the car on it. “No wonder. It’s just for display. You have to put it together yourself. Remember the trouble you had trying to build that sports car? In the end, Daddy had to do it. Even then it was lopsided.”

  “You could help me.” Scott walked over to the door of the discount store. “Come on, Rachel. Let’s see how much the model costs.”

  Rachel liked looking at the things in this store. It was bigger than the others on Church Avenue. Everything from school supplies to blue jeans was for sale here.

  Scott walked down the aisle of toys. Rachel followed him, looking at everything on the shelves.

  “Here it is, Rachel!” Scott picked up a box with a picture of the red and green car on it. “See, I was right. It says racing stock car on the lid. And look what else it says: Easy to assemble! There’s a man to drive it. He’s just the right size.”

  Rachel looked at the price tag. “That costs almost seven dollars, Scott.”

  Scott put down the box. The two children went over to a bin with a big sign over it:

  MARKED DOWN

  The things here were all either dented or dirty or missing a part. Rachel saw a big, blue box with pictures of something that could be clouds on it. In pale blue letters that seemed to drift in and out of the clouds, Rachel could just make out the words The Build-Anything Kit.

  The box had a bashed-in corner, but there was no hole in it. Rachel picked it up.

  “It’s heavy.” Rachel shook the box. “And it rattles. There must be a lot of parts.”

  “Let me see that.” Scott leaned over to read the words in the clouds. “We could use this to build our own stock car racer. Look at the price, Rachel!”

  “Seventy-nine cents, and don’t forget the tax.” Rachel took two quarters out of her pocket. “I still have this left from my last week’s allowance.”

  Scott pulled out a quarter and two dimes. “I’ve got almost as much as you do. Together we have more than enough to buy the kit.”

  Rachel carried the blue box to the checkout counter.

  The man at the counter looked at the box and then at the two children. “You understand that you can’t return things that are marked down?”

  “Why was this marked down?” Rachel asked.

  “It was one of our high-priced sets, but it’s been on the shelf for months,” the man said. “I guess people thought it cost too much. We marked it down this morning because the box was damaged from so many children shaking it.”

  “Do you think the things inside are broken?” Scott wanted to know.

  “That’s a chance you’ll have to take,” the store man said. “I’m not allowed to open the box, but I understand there was nothing breakable in the kit.”

  Rachel never knew why she suddenly wanted the kit so much. “We’ll take it,” she said, and put her two quarters on the counter.

  Scott laid his money down beside hers.

  The stor
e man rang up the sale on his cash register and put a nickel and four pennies change on the counter.

  Scott took the pennies and gave the nickel to his sister. “That makes us just about even,” he said.

  The store man laughed. He put the Build-Anything Kit into a plastic shopping bag with two handles. “You can take turns carrying it or you can each grab a handle. I hope it does everything you want it to.”

  “Thank you.” Rachel took the plastic bag and carried it out of the store. It was lucky that her schoolbooks were in a backpack so she could use both hands. The kit seemed to get heavier with every step she took.

  At the first cross street, Rachel said, “Maybe we should each take a handle.”

  Scott carried his books on his back, too. “Hand me that bag, Rachel. I’ll take it the rest of the way home.”

  Rachel was older than Scott. She didn’t think he was stronger than she was, but she wasn’t going to argue now. She gave him the plastic bag, making sure he had a good grip on it.

  Scott lifted the bag and held it from the bottom.

  The two children made their way along the crowded sidewalk. They passed a hardware store, a little dress shop, a dancing school, and a flower store with enormous stuffed toys in the window.

  When they came to the fruit stand, Scott put the plastic bag down on the pavement. Rachel grabbed one of the handles. “We’ve tried taking turns,” she said. “Now let’s carry it together.”

  Scott took hold of the other handle. Both children were surprised at how easy it was to carry the plastic bag now. They turned the corner onto the street where they lived.

  Their house was halfway down the block. They could see their mother waiting on the front stoop. She was looking up and down the street.

  Mrs. Walker didn’t wait for Scott and Rachel to reach the house. She ran down the street to meet them. “It’s half past three on Friday!” she said. “Don’t tell me both of you were kept after school for talking in class!” She bent over to give them each a kiss.

  “We went into the discount store, Mom,” Scott told her. “Wait till we show you the bargain we got!”

  “I’ll have to wait to see it,” Mrs. Walker said. “Your dad telephoned and asked me to meet him after work. He wants to take me out for supper. Would you mind having TV dinners tonight?”

  “Fried chicken?” Scott asked.

  “Yes.” Mrs. Walker smiled. “I know that’s your favorite.”

  The three of them walked down the street to the old limestone house and climbed the front stoop. Mrs. Walker unlocked the door, and they went in.

  “You’d better hurry and get your after-school snack,” Mrs. Walker said, “or you won’t be hungry at dinnertime.” She started up the stairs. “I’ll have to rush and change my clothes to go out.”

  Scott and Rachel left their backpacks and the plastic bag in the front hall and headed for the kitchen.

  When their mother came back downstairs, Scott and Rachel were busy smearing butter and blackberry jam on English muffins.

  “You’ll need something to wash those down.” Mrs. Walker took a container of milk out of the refrigerator and filled two glasses. Then she spun around as if she were dancing. “How do you like my new dress?”

  “Nice,” Rachel said.

  Scott looked at the dress. “I saw one just like it last week in a shop window on Church Avenue. I wanted to buy it for your birthday, Mom.”

  His mother laughed. “Draw me a picture instead.” She looked at the kitchen clock. “I’d better leave now,” she said. “I don’t want to keep your Dad waiting. Be sure to change out of your school clothes. Meantime, try not to get any jam on them. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you I’m expecting a package. Rachel, would you please sign for it?” Mrs. Walker went to get her coat and hat.

  “Have a good time, Mother,” Rachel called.

  Rachel and Scott heard the front door bang as their mother went out. They finished their after-school snack and put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Then they went to get their books from the front hall.

  Rachel always liked to do her homework right away on Friday afternoon so she’d have the rest of the weekend free. She carried her backpack upstairs to her room.

  Scott put his backpack on so he could carry the plastic bag with the Build-Anything Kit up to his room at the back of the house.

  Rachel changed into a T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. She sat down at her desk to do her homework.

  Rachel read her social studies book and answered some questions. She was just going to start her math when Scott came into the room. “Look what I built.”

  “Is that a garbage truck or a tricycle?” Rachel asked.

  “It’s a stock car racer,” Scott told her. “There aren’t any directions, and I couldn’t find four wheels the same size.”

  “I guess that’s why the kit was marked down,” Rachel said. “We should never have bought it.”

  “You were the one who told the man we’d take it,” Scott reminded her.

  Rachel knew he was right. “I’d better look at the kit, Scott. Bring along your racer, and we’ll see if we can make it better.” She got up from her desk and went down the hall to her brother’s room.

  Scott had left the big blue box open on the floor. Rachel got down on her hands and knees to look at the different things in the box. There were a great many, and they were all jumbled together.

  “The first thing we have to do is sort this stuff.” Rachel began to take out the things one at a time. She laid them side by side in the lid of the box. She picked up what looked like a little steering wheel. Rachel bent over to get a good look at it and found she had picked up something else as well. “Scott, take a look at this.”

  “I never saw anything like that in the box.” Scott stared at the clear plastic tool. It looked like a hammer with two heads. One hammerhead was much smaller than the other.

  “I didn’t see it, either, till I picked it up.” Rachel put the double hammer in the lid of the Build-Anything Kit. Then she reached into the blue box for an axle.

  “Rachel,” Scott whispered. “Look!” He pointed to the lid.

  The little plastic hammer had disappeared!

  “The hammer’s gone!” Scott said.

  “I put it right on top of all that junk,” Rachel told him. “Maybe it slid down inside. Clear plastic is hard to see. You never even noticed the hammer when you were making your whatever-it-is.” She reached into the lid and picked up the first thing she touched.

  Scott grabbed her wrist. “Now it’s back again!”

  Rachel saw that she had the double hammer in her hand. She thought for a minute. “I guess it’s hard to see when it’s mixed with all those things. They’re all different colors. What do you have that’s plain and flat?”

  Scott went over to his desk. “Here’s the math test the teacher returned today. I only used one side of the paper.”

  Rachel took the hammer over to the desk. Scott put the math paper blank-side-up on top of his math book. Rachel laid the hammer on the paper. At once the hammer vanished.

  Scott sat on his heels to look at the paper sideways. “There’s no sign of it.” He reached over to the place on the paper where he thought the hammer would be. “I can feel it, and I can see it now, too!”

  Rachel felt a little thrill of excitement as she watched the hammer come into view the second Scott touched it. As soon as he lifted his finger, the little plastic tool could not be seen.

  Scott took a deep breath before he picked up the hammer. Rachel knew that he was trying not to show he was scared.

  He stood up and turned the hammer over and over in his hands. As long as he was holding it, both children could see it. “There’s some writing on the handle,” Scott said. “Sizer.” He thought for a minute. “Maybe that’s the name of the maker.”

  “Well, it’s part of the Build-Anything Kit,” Rachel said. “Why don’t we try to figure out what it’s good for—besides getting lost? What did you do with that car y
ou built?”

  Scott had left his car on the floor beside the Build-Anything Kit. He took the hammer over and began to tap the wheels. When he hit a wheel with the big hammer, the wheel became smaller. Scott tried tapping with the little hammer. At once the wheel became bigger.

  “Look at that!” Scott said.

  “Now we know what the word Sizer means,” Rachel said. “This hammer changes the size of things.”

  Scott sat down on the floor and set to work to match up the wheels of his racer.

  Rachel got down on her hands and knees and leaned over the big blue box. She pulled out all the things that might be part of a car and placed them on the floor.

  Scott fished around in the pile she made. “Here’s a windshield!”

  The windshield was too small for the car Scott was building. He tapped it with the little hammer. Then it was too big. He had to work very slowly with both hammerheads until it was just the right size. “I’m beginning to get the hang of this thing,” he told Rachel. “It works much too fast if you’re not careful.”

  Rachel didn’t know as much about cars as Scott did, but she wanted the racer to look like the ones at the country fair. She went to get her crayons, some paper, and a pair of scissors.

  Rachel drew wiggly green stripes and circles on the paper. She cut them out. “Let me have the sizer for a minute, Scott. I want to see if it will work on something that isn’t part of the kit.”

  “I’ve almost finished putting the car together,” Scott said. “You can have the sizer in a minute.”

  Rachel looked at the little red car. “It’s much better than it was, Scott, but it still doesn’t look like a stock car racer.”

  Scott scratched his head. Then he grinned. “It’s the tires. Those racers all had tires much bigger than regular cars do.” Scott tapped away with the small hammer until the tires were just the size he wanted. “How’s that?”

  “Better,” Rachel said.

  Scott handed Rachel the sizer. She gently tapped the wiggly green stripe she had made.

  “It’s getting bigger,” Scott said. “I thought maybe the Build-Anything Kit was like a computer and was programmed by the sizer. But if the sizer works on things that aren’t in the kit, it can’t be a computer.”