Review by Booklist Review
Ages 4-8. Barrett, who wrote the classic Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (1982), again skews reality with fantastic situations and jokey wordplay. Barrett is aided and abetted by illustrator Collicott, whose eye-popping gouache paintings deliver just the right kind of creepy-crawly landscapes--jam-packed with creatures, some cute, some mildly menacing. Each double-page spread asks a question that focuses on identifying the correct witch in an illustration, for instance, "Which witch has an itch?" Multiple-choice answers are offered: "The one on the rug? The one who looks smug?" The rhymes on witch get more and more ridiculous, while the paintings sustain interest with pointy-hatted animals--domestic, wild, and completely made-up--and a landscape that offers all sorts of weird surprises: hills with glowering faces, interiors packed with sumptuous draperies and foods. Not just a Halloween romp, this offers year-round involvement and fun. --Connie Fletcher
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Specific questions and elaborate illustrations complicate this hide-and-seek game, whose "witches" are animals in pointed hats. Every spread presents five queries opposite a detailed full-bleed image. For instance, "Which witch looks radiantly rich?" refers to six white rabbits having tea. All wear billowy gowns, but one drips with jewels. The answer may be evident, but more questions take the investigation further. "Is it the one feeling hot?" (A sweaty rabbit fans herself.) "Is it the one stirring a pot?" (A rabbit in a patched hat tends a teakettle.) "Is it the one eating an apricot?" (The bejeweled rabbit nibbles an orange fruit.) Barrett, author of I Knew Two Who Said Moo, tirelessly repeats the title's formula on each new page, rhyming the homonyms "which witch" with "itch," "switch" and "glitch." Collicott's (Toestomper and the Caterpillars) appropriately weird gouaches feature look-alike groups, from polar bears to newts to chameleons, in creepy swamps or decadent interiors. Her near-identical witches wear patterned garments and make subtle movements; a lion palms a gold coin in "Which witch is a sneaky snitch?" The puzzles lose their luster as they are solved, but Barrett's numerous clues and Collicott's intricate visuals delay that inevitable fading. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Barrett uses cartoon animals dressed as witches to help children distinguish different elements in the pictures. The rhyming text prompts readers to find the witch "trying to hitch," "about to pitch," or "learning to stitch." However, young children trying to decipher these busy illustrations are likely to become frustrated. The combination of unfamiliar vocabulary (jig, glum, smug, ghoul) and a difficulty in matching text and picture, such as "Is it the one who is Lean-Or is it the one who is clean" (the lean one looks just as clean as the others), detracts from any enjoyment that the book might offer.-Shara Alpern, The Free Library of Philadelphia (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
Barrett poses a set of rhyming questions about each refreshingly quirky illustration. Which witch is learning to stitch? Is it the one wearing socks? Is it the one eating lox? Is it the one looking in a box? Or is it the one with chicken pox? The complicated compositions, featuring a variety of animals wearing witchy outfits, reward observant readers with plenty of creepy, humorous details. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A rhyming seek and find makes this book a sure bet for a cozy read-aloud. On the right-hand side, Collicott's (Toestomper and the Caterpillars, 1999, etc.) animal witches fill the page, each unique and with its own witchy hat. They are hard at work, acting, eating, sewing, playing . . . and making trouble. On the left-hand page, Barrett (I Knew Two Who Said Moo, 2000, etc.) presents a mystery-"Which witch is learning to stitch?" and four rhyming questions to help the reader pinpoint the correct witch in the illustration-"Is it the one wearing socks? / Is it the one eating lox?" While in many cases it is obvious which witch it is, the questions give the reader other details to look for in the pictures. And a good thing, too, since many of the activities will be unknown to children on the first reading. The text has the added bonus of highlighting all the rhyming words in colorful fonts, as well as introducing new ones-lean, glum, smug, lox, and nook, among others. Children will delight in the detailed drawings-new things will appear with each reading, and with the text as a model, they will get better and better at describing what they see. A clever and fun book that will have kids learning without even knowing it. (Picture book. 5-8)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
