The Christmas Witch (Picture Puffins)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book about helping others
Review: Beautiful Story. It has everything: A fun story, a great message, silly words, and lets your imagination fly with tales about Castles and kingdoms, witches and elves, flying brooms... Gloria is a nice witch that goes the "Extra mile" just to help his friends to start talking to each other again. The pictures are adorable...

Rating:
Summary: The worst Christmas picture book ever
Review: Lambast me! Riddle me with negative votes! Curse my name unto the heavens and wish me only vile tortures and various fates worse than death! Why? Because I did not like "The Christmas Witch". Worse still, I kinda loathed it. Before you judge me too quickly, allow me to explain. I am a Steven Kellogg fan of the highest order. I think Kellogg is the bee's knees. His books raised me as a child and I cannot recommend highly enough his superb "The Mysterious Tadpole", his eloquent "Island of the Skog" or his urbane "The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash". The man is a master at what he does, whether he is merely illustrating a book or taking on the role of author as well. So imagine my shock and horror when I picked up "The Christmas Witch", read it through once, read it through twice, and came to the undeniable conclusion that the book is just plain awful.

First of all, there is the title to contend with. Perhaps Mr. Kellogg was unaware of the already existing and very charming "Christmas Witch" fable told throughout Italy and extending as far as Russia. For those of your interested in THAT story, I direct you to "The Christmas Witch" by Ilse Plume. Better yet, read "Baboushka and the Three Kings" by R. Robbins (a Caldecott winner, no less). Both are wonderful Christmas stories. And both are heads and tails better than this little droplet.

I will explain further. The plot of this book is a little intense. Kids ready to be primed for Harry Potter will delight in this alternative tale of a witch attending the Academy for Young Goblins and Witches. A bit of a failure in the broom department, a little witch named Gloria one day stumbles on (bear with me now) a holy angel reading Christmas stories to magic elves. The angel takes Gloria on an intergalactic trip (who knew witches liked to travel in space?) to a planet where two factions (the Pepperwills and the Valdoons) are fighting a long war. Gloria sets about bringing the two sides together by fixing up an abandoned castle (with the help of the magical elves) and inviting the enemies to in on alternate days. One day she tricks the two sides into partying at a masked ball with one another, just as the evil Madame Pestilence (head of Gloria's old school) sets about ruining Chrismas. In the end, however, all is well and the Pepperwills and Valdoons decide never to fight again.

It sounds reasonable enough on paper. I was a little confused by the disparate elements of 1) Witches 2) An entirely different planet and 3) Elves and angels. To my mind, none of this mixes particularly well. It's almost as if Kellogg has tried to incorporate too many elements in too many different ways. Then too, his writing is rather bad on this book. It's difficult to write a story about a holiday as beloved as Christmas without becoming schmaltzy. And let me tell you, any book that can contain (without irony) the words, "Remember how happy you were when the magic of Christmas entered your hearts?", is drowning in goo.

None of this is to say that Kellogg's drawings suffer at all. Frankly, he's done a wonderful job with them. With the possible exception, of course, of little Gloria throwing out her arms to her masquerade guests, ridiculously large tears careening down her face. She looks like a slightly altered big-eyed child poster circa 1964. Otherwise, however, all the old Kellogg touches are there. The sight gags. The reoccurring characters. The colorful lines and shadings.

The book has a bad beginning, a shabby middle, and an awesomely awful end. I, for one, did not much care for it. There are thousands of worthwhile Christmas tales to tell to your little ones. I've already suggested two but there are many many more worth sharing and discovering. Don't waste your time and energy on this sub-par offering. Instead, locate a worthwhile Kellogg title and discover the meaning of Christmas with some other author. Preferably someone who can deliver a message with a wry smile and a wink.

Rating:
Summary: The worst Christmas picture book ever
Review: Lambast me! Riddle me with negative votes! Curse my name unto the heavens and wish me only vile tortures and various fates worse than death! Why? Because I did not like "The Christmas Witch". Worse still, I kinda loathed it. Before you judge me too quickly, allow me to explain. I am a Steven Kellogg fan of the highest order. I think Kellogg is the bee's knees. His books raised me as a child and I cannot recommend highly enough his superb "The Mysterious Tadpole", his eloquent "Island of the Skog" or his urbane "The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash". The man is a master at what he does, whether he is merely illustrating a book or taking on the role of author as well. So imagine my shock and horror when I picked up "The Christmas Witch", read it through once, read it through twice, and came to the undeniable conclusion that the book is just plain awful.

First of all, there is the title to contend with. Perhaps Mr. Kellogg was unaware of the already existing and very charming "Christmas Witch" fable told throughout Italy and extending as far as Russia. For those of your interested in THAT story, I direct you to "The Christmas Witch" by Ilse Plume. Better yet, read "Baboushka and the Three Kings" by R. Robbins (a Caldecott winner, no less). Both are wonderful Christmas stories. And both are heads and tails better than this little droplet.

I will explain further. The plot of this book is a little intense. Kids ready to be primed for Harry Potter will delight in this alternative tale of a witch attending the Academy for Young Goblins and Witches. A bit of a failure in the broom department, a little witch named Gloria one day stumbles on (bear with me now) a holy angel reading Christmas stories to magic elves. The angel takes Gloria on an intergalactic trip (who knew witches liked to travel in space?) to a planet where two factions (the Pepperwills and the Valdoons) are fighting a long war. Gloria sets about bringing the two sides together by fixing up an abandoned castle (with the help of the magical elves) and inviting the enemies to in on alternate days. One day she tricks the two sides into partying at a masked ball with one another, just as the evil Madame Pestilence (head of Gloria's old school) sets about ruining Chrismas. In the end, however, all is well and the Pepperwills and Valdoons decide never to fight again.

It sounds reasonable enough on paper. I was a little confused by the disparate elements of 1) Witches 2) An entirely different planet and 3) Elves and angels. To my mind, none of this mixes particularly well. It's almost as if Kellogg has tried to incorporate too many elements in too many different ways. Then too, his writing is rather bad on this book. It's difficult to write a story about a holiday as beloved as Christmas without becoming schmaltzy. And let me tell you, any book that can contain (without irony) the words, "Remember how happy you were when the magic of Christmas entered your hearts?", is drowning in goo.

None of this is to say that Kellogg's drawings suffer at all. Frankly, he's done a wonderful job with them. With the possible exception, of course, of little Gloria throwing out her arms to her masquerade guests, ridiculously large tears careening down her face. She looks like a slightly altered big-eyed child poster circa 1964. Otherwise, however, all the old Kellogg touches are there. The sight gags. The reoccurring characters. The colorful lines and shadings.

The book has a bad beginning, a shabby middle, and an awesomely awful end. I, for one, did not much care for it. There are thousands of worthwhile Christmas tales to tell to your little ones. I've already suggested two but there are many many more worth sharing and discovering. Don't waste your time and energy on this sub-par offering. Instead, locate a worthwhile Kellogg title and discover the meaning of Christmas with some other author. Preferably someone who can deliver a message with a wry smile and a wink.

Rating:
Summary: The favorite of the season
Review: Our six-year old grandson chose this book every night he stayed with us for bedtime reading. The language is direct and descriptive. The illustrations add to the story.

Rating:
Summary: The Christmas Witch is all-out fun!
Review: The Christmas Witch Is a story of Gloria, a young witch who wants to help others, not eat Creame Cockroach Casserole. Steven Kellogg does a wonderful job with his writing and paintings. Gloria is the model being, someone that everyone can look up to. You must read this book!