The Witch Casts a Spell Review

The Witch Casts a Spell [2002, Dial Books for Young Readers--Penguin Putnam, ISBN: 0-8037-2646-5], by Suzanne Williams and illustrated by Barbara Olsen, is a 32-page children's book with a Halloween-themed song. All of the lyrics and the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell" are on the last page.

The Story

The witch casts a spell and all the other characters begin to come alive and play their part in this children's book. Each phrase is repeated a total of three times with "such sights are seen on Halloween" repeated on each stanza between the second and third phrase. The various characters include:

• scarecrow (looks a bit different with a blue face, but cute)
• goblins (look like kids with missing teeth)
• mummy (always easy to pick out a mummy in the crowd--my daughter kept wanting to call this one the mommy though!)
• vampire (was he serving blood or cherry drinks?)
• goblins (the ghost with the ballcap is too cute)
• band (my daughter was fascinated by the piano player with no head)
• spooks (try to say "spooks swoop and swirl" three times fast)
• clock (looks like midnight)
• all (this one has a surprise)
• jack-o'-lanterns (they don't really seem to be glowing in the main picture, but maybe that's a bit picky)

My Viewpoint:

My 5-year-old really took to The Witch Casts a Spell. After I read it one time, she absolutely HAD to read it herself and was very intent on trying to figure out each word. She had continued to read it almost every day and has gotten faster and faster with it and is thrilled to actually be reading a "real" book! This one is a fun Halloween book that has colorful and engaging illustrations and the adding the tune can make it even more fun.