Bettina PatersonBesprekingen

Busy Witch starts her day with a delicious meal of lizard eggs and spiderweb toast in this shaped board book from author/illustrator Bettina Paterson. The narrative follows her through her day, as she cleans her room, and then jumps on her broom to visit her friend down the street. After a tea party, she returns home and prepares for bed...

I have a bit of an interest (one might say mania) for witchy picture-books, early readers and board books - essentially, witchy tales where the illustrative element is as important as the textual one - which sometimes leads me to track down titles I might not otherwise have read. This obscure board book from 1993 is a case in point. Long out of print, it is not a book I would be likely to stumble across, in the ordinary course of events. That being said, it was a cute little book, featuring a fun (albeit very brief) little witchy tale, and sweet illustrations that look like they were done in cut felt or fabric of some kind. Although I wouldn't recommend the reader expend great effort in tracking this one down, if someone in the market for witchy board books stumbles across a used copy, I do recommend it.

The sparse text leaves a little something to be desired, but the torn-paper collage artwork is attractive.

Attractive collage, torn-paper artwork.