Lisa Bullard

Author Lisa Bullard and illustrator Diego Diaz tackle the topic of fairy-tale witches in this entry in Millbrook Press's Monster Buddies series, which explores the role of various mythological creatures in classic stories. Establishing that witches won't be found "outside of make believe," the book goes on to discuss the appearance of witches, their habits—flying on broomsticks, cooking children—and some famous witches from around the world. These include the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, hyena-riding witches from Africa, and the famous Baba Yaga, of Russian lore. A brief discussion of the possible origin of the witch figure, in the form of early, prehistoric healers and herbalists, is followed by the end matter, including a writing prompt for youngsters, a glossary, a brief list of further resources, and an index...

I'm Casting a Spell!: Meet a Fairy-Tale Witch struck me as being very similar, in both purpose and structure, to author Eric Braun and illustrator Robert Squier's The Truth About Witches. Both are part of a larger picture book series intended to introduce various mythical creatures that appear in the pages of classic storybooks—The Truth About Witches is part of the Fairy Tale Superstars series—and both over a very rudimentary introduction to their chosen subject. Namely: the witches of fairy-tale. I'm not sure either is entirely satisfactory, but then, I am something of a devotee of witchy fare, so it stands to reason that such introductory books wouldn't quite satisfy me. The only serious critiques I would make of this one, was its assertion that witches had green skin, something that is not at all uniform in all stories and traditions, and the fact that the author never specified which African cultures had hyena-riding witches. Leaving those issues aside, I think young readers will enjoy this one, both for the basic witchy facts, and for Diaz's vibrantly colorful artwork, which often leaps off the page.… (meer)

When Travis leaves California to spend some time with his Grandma in Minnesota, he never imagines all that will happen... such as learning that the father he never knew was a bank robber, and that the money he stole has never turned up. Travis and his two new friends in town, Kenny and Iz, begin looking for money that disappeared 14 years ago; but they soon learn someone else is looking for it too, and whoever that is, might be a dangerous person to cross.
While this book has the standard trio of middle grade novel topics: family, friendship, and first love, it is primarily a mystery, told in a modern 13-year-old narrator version of a crime noir novel. This book is all about plot and less about character development. As such, it's a great story, but I never felt a close enough attachment to any of the three kids to quite give it a 5 star review.… (meer)