The LITTLE LEFTOVER WITCH

Rating:
Summary: I never forgot this book
Review: I read this book when I was a small girl and never forgot this charming story although I did forget the title. After searching for years through every children's witch book I found it by chance just sitting on a shelf in the library I work at. I was so happy to relive this wonderful childhood memory of Felina (Lucinda) and the Doon family.

Rating:
Summary: Great Example of Unconditional Love
Review: My mother-in-law, a former teacher, passed along her copy to us two years ago. We are just about to begin reading it for the third time as part of our autumn traditions. A great example of what unconditional love can do! Age appropriate from about four on, although I had a young three-year-old who liked to listen to it as well. Our paperback copy has pictures on almost every turn of the page.

Rating:
Summary: Great Example of Unconditional Love
Review: My mother-in-law, a former teacher, passed along her copy to us two years ago. We are just about to begin reading it for the third time as part of our autumn traditions. A great example of what unconditional love can do! Age appropriate from about four on, although I had a young three-year-old who liked to listen to it as well. Our paperback copy has pictures on almost every turn of the page.

Rating:
Summary: Never Forgot
Review: My school Librarian read this book to my class thirty-five years ago in 1967. I can still remember how engrossed all the students were listening to this sweet story of a little witch who was unable to return home after Halloween. I never forgot the title and when my daughter turned seven I started searching high and low for a copy to share with her. I finally found a copy through Amazon last year. I paid $68.00 for a very used copy...it was worth every penny to be able to share this with another generation. I highly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: Never Forgot
Review: My school Librarian read this book to my class thirty-five years ago in 1967. I can still remember how engrossed all the students were listening to this sweet story of a little witch who was unable to return home after Halloween. I never forgot the title and when my daughter turned seven I started searching high and low for a copy to share with her. I finally found a copy through Amazon last year. I paid $68.00 for a very used copy...it was worth every penny to be able to share this with another generation. I highly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: Even better than I remembered
Review: Sometimes when you revisit a childhood favorite you discover that much of what made it wonderful is "between the lines" and not there at all, just images you invested in it. But The Little Leftover Witch is really just as wonderful, funny, vivid and haunting as I thought at the time.

This was my FAVORITE book when I was seven, and took it just as a literal fairytale about what would happen if a little witch girl got left on a tree outside a human family's window on Halloween. At the time I much preferred mischievous Felina to sweet Lucinda. It's surprisng to read it again at this distance and see just how perfectly Laughlin captured the behavior of small girls without either fudging on their maturity or condescending to them!

I also found myself entirely in love with the world of the Doons. In fact, I reread the book as soon as I finished. This family is nice-- and yet, still believable. Mrs. Doon loses her temper (well, only after severe provocation when Felina brings the cat to the supermarket!)... and there are family traditions and little bits of individuality everywhere.

What I missed, reading this as a child, was the metaphor for adoption-- and the metaphor of how love can truly change a person. In the world of the Doon's, Felina's witchiness is a fact-- not a delusion-- and everyone in the town buys into it. But in the hands of the adult reader, Felina's witchiness is every lonely child's feeling of not belonging. No wonder all kinds of children love this book! It has everything-- terrific writing (brief enough for early-ish readers), memorable characters, humor, adventure-- and a terrific depiction of the power of love.

Rating:
Summary: Even better than I remembered
Review: Sometimes when you revisit a childhood favorite you discover that much of what made it wonderful is "between the lines" and not there at all, just images you invested in it. But The Little Leftover Witch is really just as wonderful, funny, vivid and haunting as I thought at the time.

This was my FAVORITE book when I was seven, and took it just as a literal fairytale about what would happen if a little witch girl got left on a tree outside a human family's window on Halloween. At the time I much preferred mischievous Felina to sweet Lucinda. It's surprisng to read it again at this distance and see just how perfectly Laughlin captured the behavior of small girls without either fudging on their maturity or condescending to them!

I also found myself entirely in love with the world of the Doons. In fact, I reread the book as soon as I finished. This family is nice-- and yet, still believable. Mrs. Doon loses her temper (well, only after severe provocation when Felina brings the cat to the supermarket!)... and there are family traditions and little bits of individuality everywhere.

What I missed, reading this as a child, was the metaphor for adoption-- and the metaphor of how love can truly change a person. In the world of the Doon's, Felina's witchiness is a fact-- not a delusion-- and everyone in the town buys into it. But in the hands of the adult reader, Felina's witchiness is every lonely child's feeling of not belonging. No wonder all kinds of children love this book! It has everything-- terrific writing (brief enough for early-ish readers), memorable characters, humor, adventure-- and a terrific depiction of the power of love.

Rating:
Summary: A book that should be read to all children
Review: This book brings back warm family memories of fall and mother's willingness to help us develope our own imagination. This book is about family and finding someone to love you even if you are a "Little Leftover Witch."