Genre
Counting books
Halloween stories
Picture books for children
Stories in rhyme
Tone
Darkly humorous
Subject
Counting
Flight
Magic brooms and brushes
Night
Witches

"One goes zip. Two go zoom. / Three witches glide from room to room." So begins this rollicking, rhyming witchy counting book, as ten witches fly about, eventually mounting the same long broom. The counting then goes in reverse, as one after another of the aerial magic-workers falls off, or is ejected, leaving one to float across the moon...

As a confirmed lover of all things witchy, Zip! Zoom! On a Broom appealed to me from the minute I glimpsed its cover. I enjoyed Teri Sloat's rhyming tale, and think that the narrative structure works very well whether one approaches it is a story or as a counting book. The artwork by French illustrator Rosalinde Bonnet is colorful and creepy, in a fun, entertaining way. Recommended to anyone looking for new witchy stories, or for Halloween counting books. ( )

Zip! Zoom! On a Broom by Teri Sloat is the latest in the Gramma and Little Guy reads.

Little Guy knows what Hallowe'en is and immediately labeled the book as a Hallowe'en read from the witches on the cover. We had to look at the witches's faces before opening the book and he found some of them to be 'mean.' Onward to the inside.....

Zip! Zoom! On a Broom is specifically a Hallowe'en themed counting book. Ten witches end up packed onto a broom - we count up as they appear and down as they leave the broom.

The prose are in rhymes that allows the reader to achieve a nice rhythm. But there are a few that seem somewhat stilted and forced and just not quite 'there'. "Seven spiral through a cloud. One witch whirls off, shrieks out loud!" Some of the words used are perhaps a bit above the reading level of those who would pick up this book - incant and plummet definitely are. Those that would perhaps understand those words are beyond counting to ten.

Rosalinde Bonnet's illustrations are quite unique, distinctive and detailed. However I found some of the pages to be just too dark, both physically and in tone. Little Guy found the witches and creatures that populate the pages to be just too mean and scary, especially the wolf that catches the last witch.

We'll try this one again later, but both Gramma and Little Guy can only give it a middle of the road rating - *** - right now. ( )