Synopsis

Visit Little Witch School, where the sweet and adorable students are getting ready to ride brooms for the very first time.

Details

• Title: Little Witch’s Zoomin’ Broom
• Author: Rosa Von Feder
• Illustrator: Anoosha Syed
• Publisher: Cottage Door Press
• ISBN: 1680521276
• Publication Date: July 1, 2016
• For Ages: 0-5
• Category: Board Book
• Spooky-Scary or Spooky-Fun? 🎃 Fun.

Review

Little Witch’s Zoomin’ Broom is officially one of my favorite books. I’m an adult — I vote, I remember what a dial-up modem sounds like, my back often hurts for no discernible reason — but when people ask me what my favorite books are, I will proudly include this candy-colored board book among the Serious Literature™ and classic comic books that I usually rattle off.

Written by Rosa Von Feder (a pen name for the creative team at Cottage Door Press), the story follows a tiny witch at Little Witch School who fears that she will be too small to fly on the night of the Broom Moon. Happily, she finds a tiny broom that is the perfect size for her, and they zoom off together at the end of the book with the rest of her witch friends. The text is short and very cute, and there is a fun interactive moment when when it asks young readers and listeners, “Can you guess what happened next?”

If you’ve read any of my previous reviews, you probably know that I’m a sucker for beautiful illustrations. I didn’t stand a chance with this book, because Anoosha Syed‘s art is absolutely gorgeous. Her colors are cute yet spooky, bold yet soft, comforting yet exciting. There’s a delightful sense of breezy movement throughout, as if we are flying along with the little witches even before they take off on their brooms, and the character work is spectacular.

I said in my witchy TBR post that I was getting major Mary Blair vibes from Anoosha Syed’s cover, and that definitely holds true for the rest of the book. Syed’s dynamic compositions, exciting use of color, and adorable character work definitely bring Blair’s work to mind. (If you’re not familiar with Mary Blair’s art, I highly recommend that you seek her out. Any Disney fan will recognize her style, whether they know her name or not, especially if they’ve ever had the pleasure of riding It’s a Small World. I take absolutely no responsibility if you get the song stuck in your head, though.)

Little Witch’s Zoomin’ Broom is a perfect spooky book to share with little ones in October, but with its adorable story and beautiful artwork, it would be a crime to keep it stowed away for the other 11 months of the year. At the very least, share it with kids once a month so that they can celebrate the bright, full Broom Moon and pretend to zoom away with Little Witch and her friends.

Rating

I’m not kidding, this is now one of my favorite books. I give it 5 out of 5 coffins.