Being someone that adores Halloween I am often the recipient of a lot of unusual books. My friends have gotten into the habit of getting me Halloween themed books instead of the usual gifts that people exchange for Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter. This part Christmas I received “One Witch” from a friend who knows that I am into bats, mummies and vampires; tucked inside the front of the book was a small card that read, “Don’t try this recipe, unless the slimy slugs are extra slimy, it just doesn’t taste all that great”. It was a long standing joke about how I was the “McGuyver of the kitchen”, give me a few basic ingredients and I can make pretty much anything. I’d never heard of the book so I was a little clueless about the joke he was making but after I read it I started howling and had to call him and thank him for it. This is a great counting and rhyming book for kids and it’s the perfect pick to read when Halloween rolls around. I plan on reading this to all the kids this year when we have out Halloween party - I might even have some bowls of creepy, gross things to pass around to add a little extra thrill to the event!
One Witch
The story revolves around one witch with an empty pot. She goes around to all her friends asking them to help her fill it up; they aren’t sure what she’s going to do with the things that they are giving her but they donate to her cause nonetheless. She starts off with the cats who give her a fish tail then the scarecrows who toss in a blackbird’s claw. The rhymes that go with the illustrations are just too cute for words - one of my favorites is, “Six mummies wrapped in cloth give the witch a musty moth. Seven owls wide awake give the witch a rattlesnake”. The story starts off with the two cats and ends up with ten werewolves [they give her some spider soup] with each giving her something different. Some of the things are pretty creepy and like I said, I am thinking about having some bowls filled with gooey sloppy stuff for the younger ones to pass around.
She goes around from person to person, monster to monster until her pot is full. She climbs back up to her hill to start working her magic - all the things she’s collected go into the pot. This is where the story sort of starts to work in reverse, “That witch with her spooky stash began to plan her spooky bash. She took her bag, dumped her haul, then sent her trusty bats to call ...” then you see the bats start delivering the invitations to everyone that gave her things. It starts out with the ten werewolves and works it way back down to the two cats. Everyone shows up to partake of her “gruesome brew” but don’t worry, you aren’t left out of the loop because they save the last bowl just for you!
The story is just too cute for me to do it justice with words so if you are someone that gets into Halloween then this is one that you are going to definitely want to check out. This is a hard cover book that spans thirty six pages and has a suggested retail price of $15.95 [$25.95 in Canada] but I’m sure you can find it for less online or used. The illustrations by S.D. Schindler are exceptional - the owls are so delicately drawn and the vampires are comical and not the least bit scary. My favorite page is that of the mummies all wrapped up standing inside a tomb - the detail to them is so awesome and the entire wall is filled with hieroglyphics and little drawings. Then again, the skeletons that are sitting on a gravestone are pretty awesome too. The book isn’t scary in my opinion but I’m an adult [some may argue that fact ...] if you have smaller kids that are easily frightened you might want to check this one out alone first to see if they are going to get a little too freaked out by it.
My Take
For me it was the illustrations that really made this book so enchanting; you get to see all the characters that helped make the soup in two different formats - one when they are giving the witch the stuff and one when they are getting the invitations. You can use this as a teaching tool too - like how the owls are in nests, mummies in tombs etc. More than anything this is a counting type book that counts from one to ten and then back again [hey, that rhymes!] so kids are going to get a double whammy - reading some new words and seeing the numbers spelled out. It’s always been my motto that if you make learning fun kids will remember more of what they are being exposed to and while this might seem likes it’s “just” a Halloween book with a cute story - kids will get more out of it than you think.
The Bottom Line
Over the years I’ve received a lot of kids Halloween books as presents and this one is one of my favorites. It’s a cute story that helps kids with counting and after they’ve read it a few times they can try to read it really fast - something that always has everyone rolling on the floor in laughter. They did this with a few other Halloween books and some of the words they said on accident had everyone in tears. I’d suggest this for kids five through eight but those are just numbers. Teacher might get a kick out of reading this to a class before Halloween or when they are working on Halloween projects. The story isn’t frightening and the illustrations are tame - two things that you have to look for when picking out books for younger kids. Just because you read it and don’t think it’s scary doesn’t mean a five year old is going to have the same reaction to it. No doubt, this will see a lot of use over the next few years - Annabelle is gonna love this one!
The book of the Halloween season that s sure to become a year-round classic. One witch, on a hill, had an empty pot to fill. So what does that one wit...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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