Sonia O. Lisker

After getting in trouble with her mother for splashing about in the rain, the little girl in this wordless picture-book is sent to her room. Here she discovers a trap door that leads her up to her attic, where she finds a witch's broom, and a magical mirror that shows her a real-life witch. Stepping through the mirror glass, the girl and her cat are swept up in a witchy adventure - learning to fly, fighting a sea monster, and visiting an amusement park. By the end of the night she is back in show more her bed, dreaming of her witchy jaunt...

Published in 1973, the same year as another wordless witchy picture-book - Ruth Carroll's The Witch Kitten - Sonia O. Lisker's The Attic Witch presents an engagingly magical adventure, one told convincingly through the artwork alone. I was not very familiar with Lisker's work before picking this one up, although I do know she illustrated Judy Blume's famous beginning chapter-book, Freckle Juice. In any case, I found the illustrations here engaging, and appreciated the way in which they became more colorful, as the little girl embarked upon her adventure. The human characters here are depicted in a somewhat quirky style, one that put me in mind of Mercer Mayer's work, which is a welcome association. Long out of print and somewhat obscure - I had to track it down through interlibrary loan, and don't see any other online reviews - it is a book I would recommend to other picture-book readers who enjoy witchy fare, wordless stories, or vintage illustrative styles. show less

The key thing to know is that this was created for non-readers in the foster care system. It's a wordless picture-book, with a fair bit of sadness, but also some joy, humor, and, at the end, hope. Too bad it takes place in an old-fashioned zoo; those poor animals. I, personally, did not much care for the art, either.

I admire the good intentions, but surely there are other choices for kids who need to see characters overcoming sad and worrisome events.