Patricia Coombs

Dorrie - that adorable little witch whose stockings were always mismatched, and whose hat was always on crooked - has a partner in this eighteenth installment of Patricia Coombs' twenty-book series devoted to her adventures, and it isn't Gink, her all-black feline companion! Cousin Cosmo, deposited with the Big Witch and Dorrie when Uncle Flagstone must fly around the world, arrives just in time for the grand opening of the Oddson-Ends Museum of History, Mystery and Magic Arts, donated to show more Witchville by Witch Oddson and Witch Ends, and he and Dorrie soon find themselves confronting an enemy intent on stealing one of the museum's treasures. Made invisible by the Big Witch's magical spot remover (which they mistook for soup), the two cousins race to prevent Giblett the Enchanter from making off with the magical brass bowl he needs to complete an evil spell...

Like the previous title in the series, Dorrie and the Witches' Camp, this is not a book I recall reading as a girl, which seems a shame, since I know I would have loved it. With all the magical mayhem and adventure of the earlier Dorrie tales - I loved the chase scenes, all through the museum - and the same delightfully piquant illustrations, Dorrie and the Museum Case is another winner! I was particularly struck by the fact that the story incorporates some of the themes of the very first Dorrie book (Dorrie's Magic), in the scenes in which the Big Witch attempts to use magic to clean the house!

It's hard to believe that my Dorrie project is drawing to a close, with only two more titles left, but I'm certainly glad that this later entry in the series was so enjoyable! Long Live Dorrie! show less

"Don't make so much noise... Pull up your socks... Don't spill the milk." Fed up with always being told what to do - by her older sister, her mother, and her father - Lisa walks out of her house and into the woods. She's running away! But an unexpected meeting with a grompet - a furry little creature whose exact nature is never revealed - leads to the realization that a home in which no one cared enough to ever give commands, would be a terrible thing. And so Lisa decides to return home, show more bossing her new grompet friend the whole way, of course!

A brief picture-book from Patricia Coombs, creator of the marvelous early-reader series devoted to Dorrie the Little Witch, Lisa and the Grompet offers a sympathetic portrait of an aggrieved (and somewhat sulky) young child. Reading as an adult, I'm a little bemused by the notion - implied in the text - that one can be reconciled to being ordered around by the ability to give orders oneself, but as a child reader I simply identified with Lisa's sense of indignation. I also relished Coombs' illustrations, which aren't quite as winsome as in the Dorrie books, but which still kept me engaged as a girl. show less

Dorrie the wonderful! Dorrie the winsome! Dorrie the adorable! Dorrie - the little witch with mismatched socks and hat permanently askew - returns in this, her eleventh adventure, facing off against an evil Green Wizard. When the Big Witch, in the process of brewing a Magic Elixir - something which will make whoever drinks it indestructible: hex-proof, spell-proof, and potion-proof - must run out for some more moon herbs, she briefly leaves Dorrie in charge. (Sometimes, I really do wonder show more what the Big Witch can be thinking, but that's another story!) Neither Dorrie nor her mother realize that a nasty Green Wizard, determined to revenge himself upon the Big Witch, in repayment of the spell she once used to turn him into a hat-rack, is lurking nearby. Naturally, when the Green Wizard attempts to steal the elixir, it falls to Dorrie to foil his dastardly plan...

I adored every Dorrie book I read, as a girl, taking them out of the library again and again, but Dorrie and the Amazing Magic Elixir was a particular favorite! It was so exciting, so nervewracking! to follow along, as Dorrie attempted to defeat yet another magical adversary with greater years and experience than she! Would she ever regain her human form, once turned into a toad? The visuals here, with the swirling, misty magic, complete with starry explosions, are particularly satisfying! Yes, it's another deeply satisfying Dorrie tale from Patricia Coombs! But then... is there any other kind? show less

"This is Dorrie. She is a witch. A little witch. Her socks never match. Sometimes her shoes are on the wrong feet. Sometimes her hat is wrong-side out. She lives with her black cat, Gink, and her mother, the Big Witch, and Cook." And so begins Dorrie and the Goblin, the ninth installment of Patricia Coombs' twenty-book series about the little witch and her many misadventures - a series that was one of my reading obsessions, as a young girl. When a red-eyed furry little goblin appears in the show more laundry basket one day, Dorrie mother, the Big Witch, almost faints, and Cook foretells catastrophe! With a Tea and Magic Show scheduled for that evening, the last thing anyone needs is a destructive goblin in the house, creating mischief at every turn. Dorrie, always eager to help out, offers to mind the goblin, little realizing what she has let herself in for...

It's probably redundant to say so, given how I rave about every title in this series, but Dorrie and the Goblin was always one of my favorites (yes, yes, I know: weren't they all?), and as a messy child myself, I recall finding the goblin's antics absolutely delightful! How unrepentantly bad he was! What a wonderful mess he made, flinging Dorrie's clothing all over the room, writing on her ceiling with crayon! And how utterly charming the illustrations in this one were, perfectly capturing the chaos left in the wake of the goblin's visit! An absolute classic - simply a must for the young reader who loves witchy tales! SOMEBODY! Please bring these books back into print! show less