Druscilla's Halloween

"Druscilla's Halloween" is a children's Halloween tale designed to appeal to ages 5-9. Its unlikely heroine is an eccentric old witch whose creaky knees keep giving her away on her special holiday when she is supposed to tiptoe through town and scare each child (only as much as they want to be scared). The hilarious activities of Druscilla and her cat Drizzle, not to mention her uncooperative donkey and feather-donating chickens make for a fascinating story of the invention of the magic flying boomstick! "Druscilla's Halloween" is a combination of practicality and magic, of belief and persistence, and Druscilla's determination demonstrates that valuable talents can be hidden in very strange packages. "Druscilla's Halloween" is a delightful October tale. The colorful and humorous illustrations add verve and flair to an already bewitching story.

Millions of spells ago witches were very busy preparing for Halloween. Of course they wanted to make it as scary as possible so they practiced up on their "cackling skills," their cats practiced hisssssssing and naturally every witch got out the mousse for the cat's back "so it stood up even spikier than ever." Did you know that witches drink potions so they could get those big ugly warts to grow on their ugly bugly looking chins? Well, they do! Witches had to be very quiet so they could sneak up on little children and scare `em half to death, but Druscilla had a little problem. She was the "ricketiest witch of all." SNAP! CRACKLE . . . no, that's CRACK! CREAK! POP! She had knees that wouldn't quit. She couldn't sneak up on someone who was hard of hearing, let alone a youngster who needed some Halloween scaring. She had an idea and walked with her cat Drizzle through the forest. Every critter in the forest heard her coming, including the fireflies, and ran for cover. Druscilla and Drizzle got up on her donkey, but no amount of coaxing could get that stubborn old donkey to move. Not even a spell or the word please (which almost always works) could get him moving. She tried gluing feathers to her arms so she could fly. PLOP! No go. No self respecting witch could be a flop on Halloween. What on Earth could Druscilla do to solve her dilemma? I loved this creaky kneed witch! She was a funny, warty charmer that everyone will fall in love with from the wee child to his or her grandparents. She's not a very scary witch that will send children running for cover, but rather will make them giggle and laugh at her antics. The illustrations are very appealing and the harvest colors are very much in line with Halloween. I did notice a magical looking broom toward the end of the book. I wonder if Druscilla played quidditch millions of spells ago?

Reviewed by: Wayne Walker Did you ever wonder why witches ride brooms? Well, as author Sally M. Walker tells it, the story all began a million spells ago with an ancient witch named Druscilla. In those days, witches crept about on tiptoe and scared children on Halloween from the ground. But Druscilla had the loudest, creakiest knees that anyone had ever heard, so she could not surprise people. Her knees even sent rabbits, squirrels, and fireflies scurrying. Not to be denied her fun, one Halloween she tried several different ways of being sneaky--riding a donkey, rolling in a wheelbarrow, and even making wings with chicken feathers so that she could fly. However, all these attempts failed. Then, as she was sweeping up the feathers, she had a brilliant idea. Can you guess what it was? This delightful tale of Druscilla's Halloween is a little spooky but not too scary for small children. Accompanied by the fascinating illustrations by Lee White, the story will be a welcome addition to the Halloween literature for kindergartners and elementary-age students. I found it enjoyable.