Peter G. Blank

Seven-year-old witch Winnefred Broomstock, nicknamed "Whisk" by her friends, was excited to attend her very first witches' ball, Halloween night. Determined that her outfit - which, as a first-time attendee, she had to conjure up with a spell - would be an outstanding one (and perhaps even win the coven's prize for scariest costume!), she spent hours at the Halloween Hallow Library, researching the ingredients she would need. Setting out to find those ingredients, once she had finished drafting her spell, Winnefred provides the reader with a tour of her witchy settlement, from Dr. Frankenpaw's Pet Shoppe to the palatial Wolfen Hall, before winding up at the ball itself, where her first spell produces a very scary costume indeed...

A sweet little tale, one I might never have discovered, if I hadn't gone searching for witchy picture-book to add to my "witchy-witches" shelf - after two years, I'm running out of ideas! - The First Spell of Winnefred Broomstock is fairly advanced, for a picture-book, with quite a bit of text, at beginning and end. The middle section, by contrast, has minimal text, and presents a "hunt and search" scenario, as Winnefred seeks out each ingredient, and the reader follows along, searching for the item in each scene. The ending, which is meant to be a "surprise," was rather predictable, but the wealth of details, in both text and artwork, about Halloween Hollow, make this an engaging story regardless. Recommended to more advanced picture-book readers with a taste for witchy tales.… (meer)