Winnie's Magic Wand

Winnie the Witch returns in this fourth picture-book adventure from Australian author Valerie Thomas and British illustrator Korky Paul, frantically preparing for the upcoming Witches' Magic Show, in which she has promised to appear. When Winnie discovers that her party dress is stained, she immediately throws it into the washing machine, only to discover afterward that she has also washed her wand! As spell after spell backfires - in attempting to transform an apple into an orange, she creates an apple tree; in trying to turn the apple tree back into an apple, she makes a massive apple pie - our witchy heroine is soon in despair. Luckily her cat, Wilbur, has a plan, running to town to fetch her a replacement wand...

I enjoyed Winnie's show more Magic Wand as much as the other entries in the Winnie the Witch series I have read, finding the story-line entertaining, and the detailed artwork appealing. Korky Paul always manages to create such zany fun in his pictures, with lots of amusing little details - the frog's leg sticking out of Winnie's pocket, at one point; the many little creatures (they look like miniature dragons) living in corners of Winnie's house - and two main characters who are both endearing and a little maniacal. Wilbur's grin in some scenes is priceless! Apparently the idea for this story came from the children of a primary school in Cyprus, and the artwork reflects this in subtle ways, with Greek lettering on everything from Winnie's laundry detergent to the newspaper a man at the magic show is reading. As always, with the Winnie books, the endpapers were created by a child fan of the series, in this case, a ten-year-old girl. All in all, an entertaining addition to an excellent witchy series! I will definitely be tracking down the rest of Winnie's adventures... show less

Winnie se está preparando para el Espectáculo de Magia. Pero su varita mágica va a parar a la lavadora, y sale tan empapada y arrugada que ha dejado de funcionar. ¿Logrará Winnie que el público admire su actuación a pesar de todo?