January’s Book of the Month is LITTLE WITCH HAZEL: A YEAR IN THE FOREST, by Phoebe Wahl.
The book consists of four chapters, one for each season:
In Spring, Little Witch Hazel finds an orphaned egg. When no one claims it, she rolls it home, makes it a nest by the fire, and the next morning there’s “a poof of a bird staring at her.” Her new friend is an owl named Otis, and she cares for him until he leaves “as mysteriously and suddenly as he had arrived.”
In Summer, Little Witch Hazel gets grumpy when she has too many errands to run, and “everyone else in the forest seem[s] to be out enjoying the day.” Things improve greatly when she joins in the fun, letting her previously urgent tasks wait for the time being, because, right now, “all she had to do was sit, and listen, and breathe in the fragrant summer air.”
In Autumn, there’s a noise like “the laugh of a hobgoblin robber” coming from a haunted tree stump. Little Witch Hazel leads the terrified forest creatures straight to the source, and finds, in “a burst of bravery,” what the trouble is. (They all make a new friend in the process.)
And, in Winter, while out checking on a chipmunk with a toothache, a mole with a thorn in his paw, a lonely dryad, a crow with a frog in its throat, and Mrs. Rabbit and her four rabbit kits, Little Witch Hazel gets lost in a blizzard. Things look very bleak until a surprising rescue happens!
This beautiful, charming, unique picture book is packed full of magic—the kind that happens when one reads the very best of stories. It’s longer than a typical picture book, which is for the best, since readers will want to live within these pages for as long as they can. The digital art (with colored pencil textures) on every page is worthy of framing. There is humor and love and quirkiness throughout.
“Towering toadstools!” this book is a wonder!
--Lynn
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