Happy Birthday, Little Witch!

Lizzy, that curious little witch with a penchant for flying straight into adventure, returns in this second picture-book - see The Curious Little Witch for the first installment of her story - originally published in Dutch as Lotje is jarig. As the title suggests, it is Lizzy's birthday, and determined to honor the day, she sets out for Witch Village, to buy herself a cake. Upon her return, she discovers that she has misplaced her feline companion, Cat, and a frantic search ensues, as she revisits each of the stops on her trip - the Witch Village Market, the Witch This-'n'-That Shop, the Witch Pet Store - in an effort to locate her. When no Cat is forthcoming, Lizzy is beyond dejected. Has her birthday been ruined, or is a delightful show more surprise in store...?

Given the kind of sweet witchy tales that Flemish author Lieve Baeten penned, there's never much doubt as to the answer to that question, but getting to that happy ending is half the fun! Although usually wise to the ways of wily picture-book creators, I was caught off guard by Happy Birthday, Little Witch!, not guessing until the very end just why all the witches seemed so indifferent to Lizzy's plight, and kept insisting that they had no time to help her look. Obviously, they needed to prepare for Lizzy's surprise party!. Like the other titles featuring Lizzie and her magical adventures, this one included some interesting paper engineering, in the form of little liftable flaps, in place of the doors that Lizzy must enter. The artwork itself is just as adorable as in the first two installments, making this a worthy follow-up! Highly recommend to young readers with a taste for witchy tales, and to anyone who enjoyed the other stories of Lizzy. I only hope the rest of the collection is translated into English! show less

Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Lisbet feiert ein Geburtstagsfest Lisbet, die kleine Hexe, sucht ihre Katze! Gemeinsam mit den Kindern schaut sie hinter alle Türchen und Klappen, aber die Katze ist nirgends zu finden. Dabei hat Lisbet heute doch Geburtstag und ohne ihre Katze will sie nicht feiern. Doch am Abend, als Lisbet erschöpft nach Hause kommt, wartet eine große Überraschung auf sie.

This is a slightly different book of Baeten's. The special pages are not foldouts this time but diecut doorways. The right hand page has the door you open to see into the store. Turn the page and you see the store and then open the door on the left and see the little witch peeking in.

The plot is that it is her birthday but her cat is missing. She needs to find her cat before she can eat her cake. I was sad because it seemed odd that she was going to eat cake alone with her cat but nothing ever really bothers her. And of course, it turned out nice in the end.

This is a slightly different book of Baeten's. The special pages are not foldouts this time but diecut doorways. The right hand page has the door you open to see into the store. Turn the page and you see the store and then open the door on the left and see the little witch peeking in.

The plot is that it is her birthday but her cat is missing. She needs to find her cat before she can eat her cake. I was sad because it seemed odd that she was going to eat cake alone with her cat but nothing ever really bothers her. And of course, it turned out nice in the end.

This was a book about a girl who was a witch and lost her cat on her birthday when she was about to have her party. Then she went looking all around her village for her cat but couldn't find it. As she went around the village she found the witches doing their every day duties. They all hadn't seen her cat and could not help her look for it. Then when she got back to her home all the other witches were there for a surprise party, and she also found her cat again. This book also uses a lot of cute pastel colors and it has very interesting pictures as you read the book as well. All the magical things in the book have a slight glow to them as well.