Janet Craig

A serviceable retelling. The author has made the text accessible to younger readers – not an easy feat – but it loses a little something. Because the text is so easy, there's not a lot of description of the setting, or of the characters' feelings. There's not really anything to place the story in Vietnam; in fact I only knew it was set in Vietnam because I read the subject headings.

Very sad that she has no home, Little Witch continually says "boo-hoo" in this early reader from author Janet Criag and illustrator Pat Schories. A series of animals - Oscar the owl, Benny the Bat, Freddy the frog - offer to share their own homes with her, but none of them is just right. Then Kate the black cat appears, in need of a little witch of her own, and possessing a cozy home that is perfect in every way...

The second witchy early-reader from Troll Associates that I have read today, show more following upon Sharon Gordon's Three Little Witches, The Boo-Hoo Witch was created using a vocabulary of fifty words, and is part of the Giant First Start Reader collection, intended to help beginning readers develop their skills. Although the text here is, not unexpectedly, given the nature of the book, simple and fairly formulaic, the accompanying artwork from Schories, who would go on to illustrate the popular I Can Read series about Biscuit the dog, was colorful and cute. Recommended to beginning readers who enjoy witchy fare. show less

Most of the folktales and myths I have read are of African origin. I have never read one with a Latinx origin, such as this Cuban myth, which explains why we have eclipses and how day and night were created. The story is passionate, involves kidnapping, jealousy and greed, as well as great love within a community. It has similarities to the biblical story of Adam & Eve, but with a Latin flair to it.

Pam wants a pumpkin for Halloween, and the one she finds is rather small.

That's it.

A simple little reader for kids, with the emphasis on simple.

Side note: While logging this book, I discovered that part of the reason the story is so simple is that my edition is an abridged version. The 16-page booklet printed in 2000 that was gifted to my daughter by an elementary school teacher in 2006 omits 14 pages of story and illustrations from the original 1999 version that show the little girl making show more more preparations for Halloween and make it clear that the family goes to a retail pumpkin patch instead of one in their back yard. show less