No witchy round-up could possibly be complete without Winnie! |
It's Halloween, and before your little monsters and minxes descend on the neighbourhood in search of sweet treats, we are paying homage to a favourite halloween character who weaves a magic spell throughout many children's picture books. Be they scary, sweet or a little bit gross, ladies and gentlemen it's the Witching Hour!
We'll kick off with our favourite. Winnie the Witch books by Valerie Thomas and the uber-talented Korky Paul have always been in our library stack, we voraciously consumed them all when this blog first started up - though we've got lots of catching up to do now that there are new titles we've missed, and chapter readers which also look fab.
We have reviewed:
Winnie in Winter (our favourite!)
So you could say we're definitely in love with Winnie!
But wait a second, how dare this young upstart take the throne. How about a witch I loved when I was a wee whippersnapper...!
Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski. Zany. Hilarious. Genius! |
The "Meg and Mog" books were staple fodder for me, our school library had nearly all of the titles that were available in the early 70s - and a few more were added later on.
The story of a witch, her cat, and their owl friend - and a supporting cast of completely crazy characters ranging from other witches, to mummies, to aliens and monsters, they're eyecatching books and brilliant for a whole range of ages.
We have been a bit busy with Meg and Mog books on the blog, having reviewed:
It's extremely sad that Helen Nicoll is no longer with us. Meg and Mog stories should definitely be passed down to future generations, they're so good.
More witches, well we have plenty more to share around. How about:
The Witch of the East by Mark Boyde and Scott Macgregor
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
We've missed out a lot, so it's over to you - who is your favourite witchy character in children's books? Leave a comment below, we always love your suggestions!