Ronda Armitage

When Josie is given a beautiful new witch's costume on her birthday, the young girl decides that she will cast a spell on her parents and on her older sister Nicky, who are always bossing her around. Although her efforts to make them disappear don't succeed, Josie persists with her magic, and eventually her baby brother Sam does vanish from sight. Has Josie banished him forever, or will Sam reappear in time for her big birthday dinner...?

Originally published in 1980 as The Bossing of Josie, show more Ronda and David Armitage's witchy tale was also released in 1981 as The Birthday Spell. The story, in which Josie believes that she can use magic to resolve family tensions, reminded me a bit of David Adler's I Know I'm a Witch, in which the protagonist attempts to change her aunt's behavior through potion-making. In both cases, the young would-be witch discovers that magic tricks do little to fix non-magical problems. In the Armitages' book however, the story ends, not with a reiteration of the protagonist's witchy identity, but with the happy family gathered together for her birthday celebration. I discovered The Bossing of Josie through a list of witchy picture-books, which are an pet project of mine, and although it was not exactly what I was expecting, I did find it to be a engaging slice-of-life family story. Recommended to children who believe that they are witches or wizards, or who feel bossed around by their families. show less

A smart wife outsmarts-the-animals folktale story. [return][return]Can I just say that I *HATE* the stories that have a man identified by his profession and a woman identified by her marital relationship to him? "The farmer and his wife", "the lighthouse keeper and his wife", etc., etc. I expect it from books written ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO but why does it keep appearing? [return][return]Anyway, there was nothing to recommend this one, honestly.

There comes a time in every reader’s life when she finds she must bend the rules. Of course we want to read all of the 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. And we start this challenge with great resolve.

But our resolve slowly weakens as we confront impossible walls. Some of these books are not available in any public libraries in the United States. Some of these books are completely out of print. Some of these books are only available in Swedish.

What is a reader to show more do?

In the case of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch by Ronda and David Armitage, which I learned was no where to be found, I was forced to find a book in the same series. I am quite certain that Lunch is a vastly superior book to Rescue, but one must do what one must do.

Rescue is the tale of Mr. Grinling, the lighthouse keeper, who lives with his wife and cat in a beautiful cottage near his workplace. Mr. Grinling has a big problem, however; he keeps falling asleep before he can prepare the light for the night. As you might imagine, this is a very serious problem for a lighthouse keeper and it gets him into a great deal of trouble which, in the way of books for young children, is easily resolved.

(If you are curious, the real 1001 book, Lunch, has at its heart the difficulty Mr. Grinling faces of keeping pesky seagulls from eating his lunch. The question arises, as it must: Is a story about a lighthouse keeper who can’t stop seagulls from eating his lunch really the better story, a better tale than that of a man who compulsively falls asleep on the job, endangering the lives of all those asea around him?)

A 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. show less

A smart wife outsmarts-the-animals folktale story.

Can I just say that I *HATE* the stories that have a man identified by his profession and a woman identified by her marital relationship to him? "The farmer and his wife", "the lighthouse keeper and his wife", etc., etc. I expect it from books written ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO but why does it keep appearing?

Anyway, there was nothing to recommend this one, honestly.