Ana Siqueira

Babysitter woes carry a witchy twist, which guarantees a tiny dose of scares and more than a few unexpected surprises.

While the well-done bilingual side of this read already makes it worth a peek, it goes beyond that with its spell for fun. This child is anything but excited about the new babysitter, and the imagination goes wild before the babysitter walks through the door. Or does it?

This book allows imagination to filter into reality until the two are impossible to decipher or keep apart. show more The witch...umm bruja...holds all sorts of tricks in that black sombrero and knows more than a few potions to keep children in line. Still, her hidden smile during all those wicked moments keeps the readers wondering how much evil is behind the mystical moments. The child, though, definitely has their hands full as they try to outwit the bruja and survive. It creates a fun scene with unexpected twist and unexpected turn from one page to the next. Giggles, gasps, ooos and ahhhsss are guaranteed.

The illustrations let the magic shine and bring in tons of witchy moments, letting the reader sink into every scene. Even here, reality mixes with imagination to make the reader forget which side they might be on. Plus, the details are a treat.

And the bilingual side cannot be forgotten. Spanish words dribble in here and there. Never are they defined but simply used every now and then in a way that readers will automatically understand what they mean even if they've never heard the word before. Many of them are close enough to their English counterparts to make guessing easy and remembering even simpler. Young readers can easily adapt these into their own word usage.

It's a cute picture book and is a fun, educational read. I received a DRC and found it to be such a fun tale! show less

Expatriate Brazilian author Ana Siqueira and Brazilian illustrator Irena Freitas join forces in this fun, high-energy picture book about a witchy babysitter at Halloween. If you babysitter is a bruja, the narrator tells us, you better run! So begins the madcap adventure, as the child narrator eventually discovers that her bruja babysitter is lots of fun, and that perhaps she too might be a bruja...

As someone with a strong interest in witchy picture books—books where the illustrative show more element is as important as the textual one—I have been aware of If Your Babysitter Is a Bruja since it first came out in 2022, but am only getting to it this holiday season (2025). I'm glad that I finally have, as I found it very entertaining. The text, with a liberal helping of Spanish words mixed in, is a series of situations presented by the narrator, and sometimes felt a little disjointed. That said, in the end the effect is one of madcap fun. The illustrations, created digitally, are colorful and humorous, with lots of little witchy flourishes that I enjoyed. If I'm being honest, I don't know that this one was as wonderful as I expected it to be, but between my fondness for Halloween stories and the figure of the witch, and the book's own fun qualities, I was entertained. Recommended to little brujas, and to anyone seeking Halloween stories with some Spanish/Latino background. show less

Luis loves to play superhero with his abuela, but then she gets sick and can’t play anymore. Luis learns to be the bigger superhero and lets his little sister be the little superhero.

The colors of the illustrations are beautiful, and my niece loves yelling “super capa!” whenever possible. But she’s never experienced a sick relative and doesn’t have any siblings so I’m not sure how much she gets it.

What a fun bilingual story! I am thinking about this as a story time addition for next Halloween!