The Witch Goes to School

The witch next door goes to school with her two human friends in this beginning reader from 1992, the fifth and final story devoted to her adventures from author/illustrator Norman Bridwell. From show-and-tell to a surprise visit from the Tooth Fairy, playground games at recess to some food-related shenanigans at lunch, the witch makes everything at school magical... even the writing assignments and nature walk!

I've had a bit of an up-and-down experience over the years, reading the five books about this witchy character, as part of my ongoing witchy-witches project. Mostly indifferent to the first—the eponymous The Witch Next Door, first published in 1965—I enjoyed the second (The Witch's Christmas) more, and then actively disliked show more the third, The Witch's Vacation. My favorite of the first four ended up being the fourth, The Witch Grows Up, mostly because it boasted the most witchy story, of the lot.

Unlike the previous four books, which were all paperback picture-books, The Witch Goes to School is a beginning reader, part of Scholastic's Hello Reader! line. All in all, I found it engaging, and rather fun. I liked the witchy hi-jinks, and the way the titular magic-maker made everything at school fun. I also liked that, in contrast to The Witch's Vacation, where the witch did everything for her young human friends, here she refused to help the young girl with her writing assignment, insisting that it wouldn't be fair, and that the girl should come up with her own ideas. The girl's pride at her subsequent accomplishment is deserved, and offers a contrast to the scene in The Witch's Vacation, in which the children enjoy being at the top of a mountain, after riding the escalator provided by the witch to the top, instead of hiking up themselves, as intended.

The text here is simple, as one would expect, and the artwork has the same cartoon-like style as Bridwell's other books about the witch next door. Although I wouldn't say these books are favorites, from an aesthetic perspective, I did appreciate the scene in which the children are reading in the classroom, and the little boy is holding a copy of Carol Carrick's picture book, Patrick's Dinosaurs. That is a nice little tribute!

In sum: an engaging little book, one which I would recommend to fans of this character, as well as to beginning readers who enjoy witchy fare. show less

What nonsense.  And I don't mean that in a good way.  Clifford the Big Red Dog has a tiny bit of appeal, imo, but this is nothing.  And those creepy black eyes, with no white showing....

SS
A witch visits the school and gives children a great day to remember