Hey kids! Tonight I'm shining the spotlight on another Halloween book for children that I found at Goodwill: the 1971 Adrienne Adams book, A Woggle of Witches.
As soon as I saw the cover to this book I knew I was going to enjoy it. It has a distinct, old-fashioned flare that makes me think of Joseph Mugnaini's illustrations for The Halloween Tree.
The story involves a horde of witches who live deep in the woods and have an annual feast. They wake up as night falls...
In a hammock city that evokes the Ewok village.
They eat and then take off into the sky for a group flight.
These are some of the images that made me fall in love with the book. The sheer joy on the witches' faces as they run and take off on their brooms, and the black trees and smeary gray-blue-black skies with the sharp yellow moon in the background... you can SMELL the Halloween.
Aerial acrobatics are partaken of. I love the gorgeous pea-soup green of the sky in this picture.
And we get a guest-appearance by the man in the moon. The witches take a quick rest from their revels...
All over his face! My kids laugh at this page in particular. Halloween should be all about magic and whimsy with equal dashes of spookiness mixed in.
And as for MY favorite moment in the book, and in fact, my favorite part of many Halloween books, we have the traditional interruption while the beasties of the night get spooked by costumed children.
I can't even describe to you how much I love these home-grown costumes.
But its the giant nosed-kid with the masked dog really steals the show from everyone else.
The witches fly off in terror.
The expressions on their faces are just priceless.
And of course, this bit of fright brings the night to a close. A few head back to bed, while others go back and see if there's any leftover dinner to eat. They settle back down into their witchy ways to, I assume, await next years feast and celebration.
That's it for tonight guys! I'll be back soon with more Grisly Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Haunting!
Looks like a great book.
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