Bruce Degen (1945–2024)

When the potion-brewing Little Witch receives her grandmother's book of magic secrets by special goblin delivery, she is eager to dive in. But the book itself is locked, and can only be opened by solving the accompanying riddle: "Find a Handful of Laughter, Find a Handful of Tears, Then a Helping Hand Leads, To What Everyone Needs." Can the Little Witch figure it out? Can her friend, Otto Ogre, help her to see the answer...?

Better known these days, for his role as co-creator (together with show more Joanna Cole) of The Magic School Bus series, Bruce Degen delivers a sweet little witchy chapter-book in The Little Witch and the Riddle, originally published in 1980. The magical narrative accoutrements here are fun, but the real focus is on the friendship between Little Witch and Otto Ogre, and the lesson that the Little Witch learns, regarding the importance of friendship, and working together. Ideally suited to those beginning readers looking for gentler witchy fare! show less

We've been reading this to the kid since birth, but she's really getting into it at around 20 months. Fun, lots of good detail, doesn't really get old for me. Although my theory about how the book is actually the kid's hallucination from eating poisonous berries is getting pretty elaborate.

Overflowing with all types of berries and a perfect read for late summer, Jamberry captures the essence of rhyme, alliteration, and visual language. Degen’s text is abundant with sweet rhymes and frolicking rhythm; it’s all the fun of a tongue twister without being difficult to say aloud. I never tire of reading it aloud to C, even though I must say the word berry 30+ times! C loves the whimsical illustrations, including a blueberry waterfall and exploding berry fireworks.

Commander Toad in Space is another of the set we borrowed for our trip to South Pasadena.

In this story the crew go to a watery planet to explore. In true amphibian fashion the crew deploys inflatable lily pads to land on.

What the crew doesn't know is that danger lurks under the surface. Fearing that they will either be stranded or killed, Commander Toad must think of a way to rescue himself and his crew. What he does is rather clever.

While Commander Toad in Space doesn't have as many puns show more and jokes as the other book in the series but the book makes up for it in terms of good science fiction. show less