Review by Booklist Review
Gges 5^-9. Oh, what a world! Wizzil the witch is bored stiff. Is there nothing to do? "Go make somebody suffer," her parrot, Beatrice, squawks. Suddenly inspired, Wizzil turns herself into a housefly and zisses off to plague her neighbor, retired farmer DeWitt Frimp, who happens to hate flies. When Wizzil takes a stroll on the snoozing farmer's face, he reacts badly, nearly squashing the daylights out of her with his swatter. The witch takes this personally, and after some serious scheming comes up with a doozy of an idea for revenge: she turns herself into a left-handed work glove, which so captivates DeWitt that he takes to wearing it all the time. The trouble is, whenever he tries to swat a fly, Wizzil spoils his aim. The frustrated farmer finally flings the glove into the river--with unforeseen consequences. Steig has written a rollicking story so awash with alliteration and exuberant language that reading it aloud will be sheer delight. And Blake, recently named Children's Laureate of the United Kingdom, is a wizard with a scribbly line and a color wash. His illustrations, which are every bit as wonderfully energetic and funny as Steig's text (his picture of DeWitt swishing his swatter like a berserk semaphore is priceless), add texture to the story with their telling use of comic detail: a jar of eyeballs, a seriously dead frog in an ashtray, chicken feet hanging from the ceiling. Like Wizzil, readers need never be bored again. --Michael Cart
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Two masters of children's literature turn in an amiable, if not groundbreaking, performance in this madcap witch story. Bored, Wizzil the witch heeds her pet parrot's suggestion to "go make somebody suffer!" She transforms herself into a fly and relentlessly pesters an ornery old coot named DeWitt Frimp. Observing that DeWitt is a leftie, Wizzil returns the next day in the form of a left-handed work glove; when DeWitt puts the "happy harpy on his hand," his arm misbehaves. The moment of truth arrives when DeWitt hurls the glove into the river, whereupon Wizzil is revealedÄand true love blooms. Steig, whose Made for Each Other took a clear-eyed look at sentiment, cuts the romantic sweetness with an ample squeeze of sour lemon. He toys with tongue-twisters and kid-pleasing insults (DeWitt is a "bald-headed fuddy-dud"; Wizzil's a "hateful hag"). Blake (Clown) composes spiky, energetic line-drawings of DeWitt, who flails clumsily at the offending fly, and Wizzil, who struggles and spits when she lands in the water. In the wryly happy ending, newt-brown and froggy-green watercolor hues give way to sunny shades of yellow and blue. Steig and Blake start with unrefined nastiness, then blindside their characters (and readers) with a comical but sincere look at love. Ages 4-8. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-Bored, Wizzil the witch is encouraged by her scheming parrot Beatrice to cause mischief down at the Frimp Farm. Old DeWitt Frimp has a fly fetish and swats the little buggers every chance he gets. That is, until Wizzil, who has coincidentally transformed herself into a fly, takes offense at a few of his near misses. In order to exact her revenge, she then becomes an appealing work glove that DeWitt happens to find. It bedevils the man's fly swatting and generally causes havoc around the farm. When DeWitt is finally driven to dispose of it in a nearby creek, the glove becomes a drowning old woman, whom he rescues. This act of kindness causes the witch to metamorphose from a "hateful hag" into a sweet old lady washed clean of her former "vicious nastiness." The true love that blossoms between this geriatric pair is brought to fruition with enough high jinks and humor so as not to repel unromantic youngsters. Blake's lively watercolor cartoons, filled with humorous detail, are a delightful companion to this ultimately good-natured tale of transformation and rebirth.-Rosalyn Pierini, San Luis Obispo City-County Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary) Old Wizzil the witch's hair sticks up from her head in unkempt spikes; her chosen victim, retired farmer DeWitt Frimp, is bald; but both author and illustrator have let their hair down for this tale of mischief, revenge, and redemption. Bored Wizzil turns herself into a fly to torment DeWitt, but when he almost swats her (he hates flies, and swatting them is his main pleasure in life), Wizzil, ""resolved on revenge,"" turns herself into his work glove, spoiling his aim. ""He'd swing and he'd swat, and he'd hear the swatter swoosh, but Wizzil just jerked his arm a tad to this side or a tad to that side...no soap!"" Steig's language is utterly unfettered, with alliteration so thick you could spread it, and packed with savory words and phrases such as culprit and kibitz and happy harpy and bald-headed fuddy-dud. In short, Wizzil is literary ambrosia. Blake's pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations, full of energy and humor and movement (particularly when depicting DeWitt swishing his swatter), are sublime. Check out the dead, stiff-legged frog on a plate by Wizzil's bed; DeWitt's beer-bellied son Fred balletically balancing on one foot as he tries to scratch the ""unbearable itches in unexpected places"" Wizzil inflicts on all the Frimps; or Wizzil and DeWitt gazing goofily at each other after all her ""vicious nastiness"" is washed away and they fall in love. Kids are likely to groan at the resolution, but feisty Beatrice the parrot has the last word, and manages to counteract some of the icky lovey-dovey stuff: ""I guess I'll have to stay here with these humdrum humans,"" she says. ""It'll be a whole new hayride."" m.v.p. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Revenge can backfire as Wizzil the witch finds out in Steig's irreverent morality tale. Wizzil is a bored, mean, old witch who has fun making people suffer. Turning herself into a fly, she almost meets death by a flyswatter wielded by DeWitt Frimp, an elderly man who lives with his son and daughter-in-law and spends his days swatting flies. In revenge, Wizzil turns herself into a glove that Frimp loves and wears day and night. Working her magic, Wizzil makes his fly-swatting skill disappear and Frimp is enraged. In addition, Wizzil causes meatballs to explode, glasses of water to spurt up like fountains, and the whole house to shake. Realizing that the glove is the culprit, DeWitt sadly throws the glove into a stream, whereupon Wizzil is transformed into a drowning old lady. DeWitt jumps in and saves her and they live happily ever after. Blake's watercolor and pen-and-ink drawings are filled with action and humor. These two are masters of this genre and together they are unstoppable. Sophisticated, they are never over the heads of the children and the adults who will enjoy Wizzil together. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
