"Chemi, the Magician was one of my favorites. I read and reread it multiple times, and it's always stuck in my memory." — Lynn Mruczak (USA)

Ruth's illustration of Chemi. She drew all the illustrations in the book.


Ruth's father, Boris Duskin, in his chemistry lab


Quiz Kid Bunny Duskin, Ruth's sister, who inspired her to write Chemi, the Magician

Chemi, the Magician

One of Ruth's early hobbies was chemistry. She became interested in it at age 8, when curiosity prompted her to pull out one of her father's chemistry books from a living room shelf. So her dad, Boris Duskin, a chemistry teacher, began giving her lessons. Her younger sister, Bunny (also a Quiz Kid), watched their experiments and soon begged Ruth to teach her. Ruth decided to write a book about chemical magic for Bunny with their father's help and advice. Thus was born Chemi, the Magician, a children's science fiction adventure story published by Dodd, Mead, and Company in 1947, when Ruth was 13.

Ruth at her typewriter, writing Chemi, the Magician

Selected Works

Biography
Ruth interviewed her Quiz Kid colleagues to find out how being celebrated as gifted children affected their lives. The result was Whatever Happened to the Quiz Kids? (Chicago Review Press, 1982; iUniverse, 2000).
College textbooks
Ruth has coauthored six editions of this leading McGraw-Hill textbook on child development with psychology professor Diane E. Papalia.
Ruth coauthored three editions of this McGraw-Hill textbook with psychology professors Diane E. Papalia, Harvey Sterns, and Cameron Camp.
Ruth coauthored this McGraw-Hill textbook with psychology professors Diane E. Papalia and Dana Gross.
Ruth has coauthored seven editions of this leading McGraw-Hill textbook, now retitled Experience Human Development, with psychology professor Diane E. Papalia.

Quick Links

Authors Guild
American Society of Journalists and Authors
International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism
Leadership Conference of Secular and Humanistic Jews
Society for Humanistic Judaism
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