Winnie in Winter

Having had so much enjoyment from reading aloud Winnie the Witch and Winnie Flies Again, I was on the lookout for more of Valerie Thomas's stories about our beloved Winnie and her black cat Wilbur. This witch is not just for Hallowe'en, of course, and the next book I found at the library was Winnie in Winter.

It's not just winter, it's a severe winter, and Winnie's garden is covered in snow. Even her yellow and red striped tights hanging on the washing line have icicles drooping from them. Winnie is not enjoying it; she is indoors, hanging up Christmas decorations, when her black cat Wilbur comes in through the cat flap with frozen whiskers.

Winnie realises of course that she can do something about this inclement weather. She dons her winter woollies and picks up her wand. Wilbur follows her out into the snow in anticipation. When Winnie waves her wand five times and utters the magic 'Abracadabra', the snow disappears and we find Winnie relaxing on a deckchair in her garden, under a cloudless blue sky where the sun shines brightly. Wilbur is enjoying the summer weather just as much as Winnie is.

The animals that were hibernating, however, are not so pleased. The sun wakes them up too early, and all they want to do is go back to sleep. The flowers that begin to grow wilt under the blazing sun, and Winnie starts to worry a little. But then the problems really begin: crowds of sun-worshippers flock to Winnie's garden; they trample on her flowers, bathe in her pond and drop orange peel on the grass. Unable to stand the crowds and their noise, Winnie retreats indoors. The last straw for her is when she notices someone selling ice-creams in the garden. Seizing her wand and once again waving it five times along with her shout of 'Abracadabra', the spell is reversed. You can probably guess the reaction of the sunbathing crowds, whilst Winnie and Wilbur realise that winter is not so bad after all, especially when you can keep warm and cosy indoors with a toasted muffin and hot chocolate or a saucer of milk.

Korky Paul's illustrations always contribute enormously to the enjoyment of Valerie Thomas's stories centring around Winnie and Wilbur. In Winnie in Winter we see Wilbur struggling through the snow as he stalks a multi-coloured bird trying to drink from the frozen pond, and a strange array of yawning birds, reptiles and mammals that have been rudely awoken from their winter slumbers. The sunworshippers look a little like a section of the crowd from Glastonbury festival (without the mud), and there even seems to be a Winnie impersonator fleeing when snow falls once more on the garden. In that same picture, don't miss the Santa Claus riding on his sleigh high in the sky between the towers of Winnie's mansion.

This is of course a very entertaining story, but it is also useful for teaching young children about the different seasons of the year. It brings up the question of animals hibernating, and shows that flowers cannot grow all the year round. Then there is the matter of invading other people's privacy and creating a disturbance that doesn't have to be tolerated. It's serious stuff, but it's dealt with in a delightfully humorous way.

This is essentially a read-aloud book, probably for ages three to six. The illustrations are double-page spreads and many have just a few lines of text on one of the two pages; at most you will encounter twenty-three short lines of text over two pages, but usually it is quite a bit less than this. The book could therefore appeal to a fairly confident young reader, especially with so much humour and so many imaginative illustrations.

I would urge any young parents not to let their children grow up without enjoying the tales of Winnie the Witch and Wilbur; I'm sure that these are books that will provide entertainment to share over and over again. Winnie in Winter is available as an individual book or as part of a collection of six Winnie the Witch stories. Definitely recommended.

Winnie in Winter

Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul

Oxford University Press

Paperback, 32 pages

ISBN 0192726452

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.49)

Winnie's Midnight Dragon

I have long been a fan of Valerie Thomas's delightful tales of Winnie the Witch and her beloved cat Wilbur, as well as Korky Paul's hilarious illustrations. On a recent visit to the library, I was surprised to find Winnie's Midnight Dragon, which had up until then escaped my attention.

The story begins with Winnie going to bed as the clock strikes midnight; Wilbur is of course curled up in his basket at the foot of the bed. His slumbers are, however, soon disturbed by a strange noise in the garden and he goes to the cat flap to investigate. Poor Wilbur is terrified to see a baby dragon's nose poking through and puffing out smoke. As the dragon makes his way in, Wilbur turns backward somersaults and runs away. Unfortunately, the baby dragon sees this as a game and chases Wilbur, causing the grandfather clock to wobble and a suit of armour to crash down the stairs.

Wilbur wakes Winnie up and she is horrified to find her broomstick on fire. She has to use her magic fast, but the first spell goes wrong and the little dragon breathes out butterflies instead of smoke. More chasing ensues, and Winnie's belongings are smashing and crashing. Winnie, at the end of her tether, goes up onto the roof to call for the dragon's mother, but first she must magic an enormous moon to provide enough light for the baby to be seen. All ends well, and Winnie and Wilbur are eventually able to get back to bed as the day dawns.

The story is full of fun and certainly lives up to expectations. It is of course intended as a read-aloud book. Most pages feature just a few lines of text superimposed on the illustrations. Wherever possible, the text appears on a light coloured background, but in one or two cases the background is grey, purple or orange. I personally had no problem reading these pages. The font itself is quite large and clear, and whenever the word 'Abracadabra!' is used it is set in a larger font that has the appearance of a hand-written word. This could be an interesting book for a confident young reader to tackle alone, especially as the story is such fun and the illustrations are full of humour.

Korky Paul lets his imagination run riot when he illustrates Valerie Thomas's stories. Winnie has hairy legs half covered by yellow and orange striped socks under her pointed blue slippers. Wilbur is a sight to behold as he jumps in fright and runs away from the baby dragon, yelling and wide-eyed. The little dragon has a toothy grin and seems oblivious to the havoc he is creating as he goes after the butterflies. Some of the pages are predominantly in grey and purple hues as the story takes place at night, but things are brightened up by the orangey-yellow dragon as well as Winnie's patterned accessories and the colourful butterflies. Not to be forgotten, of course, are the charming illustrations for the front endpapers by Katherine Guo as well as for the back endpapers by Fabienne Derk; both were ten-years-old at the time.

I read this to a small group of four-year-old children who then had great fun acting out the story. They were able to exaggerate Wilbur's cries of 'Meeoww!' and shout out 'Abracadabra!' each time Winnie cast a spell. The part of the baby dragon is also highly amusing as he spends most of his time chasing either Wilbur or the butterflies.

The tales of Winnie the Witch never disappoint, and Winnie's Midnight Dragon is no exception. I would wholeheartedly recommend this as a picture book to read aloud to children from the age of about three, and because of the humour involved, up to perhaps six or seven. Definitely one to borrow from the library, but also an idea for a gift which I am sure would be appreciated.

Winnie's Midnight Dragon

by Valerie Thomas (author) and Korky Paul (illustrator)

Paperback, 32 pages

Oxford University Press, 2007

ISBN 019279101X

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.99)

Winnie flies again

Having been spellbound by Valerie Thomas's original Winnie the Witch story, I was sure I would enjoy other books in the series just as much; the second one I read was Winnie Flies Again. Hoping that Winnie's beloved cat Wilbur would again feature prominently, and that Korky Paul would provide the illustrations, I was not disappointed on either score.

It is no surprise to find that Winnie travels by broomstick, or that Wilbur accompanies her, sitting on her shoulder. Imagine the freedom, with no traffic lights to tie you down. However, at one time the skies were empty, but of course they eventually become chock full of helicopters, hot-air balloons, aeroplanes and rockets. One day Winnie has a nasty collision with a helicopter, and poor Wilbur loses two of his whiskers. Further accidents ensue: Wilbur's tail is bent by a hang glider, and then he loses a clump of fur as Winnie crashes into the turret of a very tall building. Winnie herself is left hanging from her broomstick by her legs, and she decides that action must be taken.

When Winnie waves her wand, the broomstick is transformed into a bicycle. Pedalling proves to be hard work, and Winnie lands in a pond. She experiments with a skateboard and then a horse, but they both turn out to be equally hazardous. Winnie and Wilbur eventually decide to walk home, but even then Winnie falls down a hole. She decides that a cup of tea and a muffin are in order, not forgetting a saucer of milk for Wilbur of course. Neither of them get what they are after, but Winnie is in fact offered a solution to her problem. If you want to know what it is, you will have to read the book.

The story is full of mishaps, and this has allowed Korky Paul to go to town with his illustrations. If you have never seen Winnie the Witch, you might be surprised by her attire. She has yellow and red striped tights on her spindly legs, ridiculously pointed blue shoes, and a pointed hat decorated with stripes, stars and moons rather than the usual plain black variety. Her nose is long, pointed and red. Splashes of bold colour stream across the page whenever she waves her wand. Many of the illustrations are double spreads, and we sees an aviator, an Indian and a pirate as well as bird's eye views with towering turrets.

It all sounds so unfortunate, but there is plenty of humour here whilst our sympathy goes out to the characters, especially Wilbur, who has a pretty thin time of it. Children love the story as well as the riotous, colourful pictures that go alongside it. You cannot really go wrong reading aloud the Winnie the Witch series of books to children; it certainly doesn't have to be Hallowe'en. I would say that a suitable starting age is probably three, going up to five or six.

This is an ideal book to read aloud, and possible a suitable one for a fairly confident young reader as well. There isn't a huge amount of text on each page, in fact sometimes there are as few as three lines on a double page. The pictures would probably do a lot to encourage a struggling reader to continue to the end of the story.

If you know and love the Winnie the Witch stories, there is a six-in-one collection of them available at £14.99, or as little as £9.89 on Amazon. If you are yet to make the acquaintance of Winnie and Wilbur, this story is available for £4.49 on Amazon. I recommend it without the slightest hesitation.

Winnie Flies Again

by Korky Paul (illustrator) and Valerie Thomas (author)

Oxford University Press

Paperback, 32 pages

ISBN 0192726463

Price £5.99 (Amazon £4.49)