ReadItDaddy's First Book of the Week - Week Ending 31st July 2020: "Season of the Witch" by Matt Ralph and Nuria Tamarit (Flying Eye / NoBrow)

Wow! I mean you had us at "Witch" but we hadn't expected the perfect halloween book to drop into our laps before August is even upon us. But let's face it, there's never a bad time of year to read a brilliantly researched and gorgeously illustrated book all about witches, is there?

"Season of the Witch: A Spellbinding History of Witches and Other Magical Folk" by Matt Ralph and Nuria Tamarit is the sort of book that grabs your attention the minute you spy the cover.

We all probably imagine witches as those green skinned pointy-hatted broomstick riding cat-befriending folk, scudding through the dead of night atop their brushy rides, ready to strike terror into the hearts of everyone. But Matt and Nuria have brought together the perfect witch's brew of historical facts and figures about witches, mages, magicians and Wiccans that will give you food for thought.

A lot of the content here made our hearts sing with joy, purely because you rarely see books that strike the perfect balance between imparting a ton of facts without diluting them for kids. In fact for most kids, this may be the first time they've ever realised that there is a real-life history to witches and magic, and it's certainly going to be the first time that a lot of kids read anything about the Witchfinder General, or the Salem trials - or for that matter how many witches and other mystical beings show up in myths and legends.

Our favourite bits were definitely learning more about magical folk in Ancient Egypt, and also the amazing Japanese legends about witches, monsters and mythical beings.

We couldn't get enough of this, and it looks like you won't have long to wait until it's released, which is fab news. As you'd expect from Flying Eye the sheer amount of effort that has gone into this book's illustrations and presentation make it more than worth the entry fee, and it's certainly one of the most unique "non fiction" titles (though are witches REALLY fictional?) we've seen this year.

Sum this book up in a sentence: An absolutely belting book filled with all manner of strange witchiness, mystical magic and tons of real-world facts and stories to bring its subject matter to life in a wholly engaging way.

"Season of the Witch" by Matt Ralph and Nuria Tamarit is out on 1st August 2020, published by Flying Eye Books / NoBrow (US)