Witches Four

First published in 1980, this witchy picture-book from Marc Brown - creator of the immensely popular Arthur series, which I believe has also been turned into a television show - is told in rhyming verse, and accompanied by amusing and slightly off-kilter illustrations. When four witches lose their hats, while zooming around upside down on their brooms, four cats find them, and turn them into houses. But who will get to keep them, when the witches come to reclaim their lost property...?

I enjoyed Witches Four, which reminded me - both with its paper-over-board binding format, and with its illustrations - of some of the Weekly Reader books we used to get, when I was a little girl. It's odd, because although the style definitely had that show more late 1970s/early 1980s sensibility, something I generally don't care for (see my review of The Old Witch and the Ghost Parade), it worked here. I wouldn't say this was anywhere near the strongest title I've seen, in my ongoing "witchy-witch" project, but it has definite appeal, and would make an excellent read-aloud. Recommended to all Marc Brown fans, and to those looking for gentler Halloween fare for younger children. show less

The images in this kind of creeped me out when I was little, but they were still interesting. Good story, as well.