What's Halloween without witches...and today's read packs some feisty ones. While I do present quite a few books on here from the larger publishers, highly anticipated, and such, I love to discover those reads, which often aren't as visible. Today's read is exactly one of those.
BOCK & STELLA
BATTLE OF THE BABY WITCHES
Children's Fantasy
ages 7 to 12
Stella, a quirky nine year-old, Bock, the pet chicken that lives between her pony tails, and Stella's older brother, Jake, craft silly and creative booby traps to stop three miniature witches from entering their human world.
After perishing in each of their respective stories, "Hansel and Gretel," "The Wonderful Wizard of OZ," and "Sleeping Beauty," the three witches shrank.
These "baby" witches crawl out of a portal in the Oak tree in Stella's front yard, hoping to return to their original size and power by casting a spell which requires the hair of a human girl.
The witches, however, have a difficult time getting close to Stella's hair because she is an avid reader and knows each witch's strength and weakness!
Bock, Stella, and Jake's booby traps catch and send each witch, one by one, back into the portal out of which they crawled.
Will Stella realise that being different can be a real superpower?
Grab your copy of this bewitchingly beautiful tale, so you and your children can join the bewildering baby-witches fun!
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61827894-bock-stella
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B32SGPC4/
MY TIDBITS
A little bit of silliness and tons of imagination create an original story, which is sure to draw listeners in.
Stella is a pretty normal 9-year-old...well, if it wasn't for her best friend, a chicken named Bock, who lives on her head. When Bock claims that three, small witches stole his gummi worms, Stella is ready to help. With her brother Jake's help, she searches the oak tree for clues and discovers that Bock wasn't joking. Three 'baby' witches are hiding in the tree and ready to cause all sorts of trouble unless Stella, Bock and Jake can find a way to send them back to the tales where they belong.
When beginning this book, it's a good idea to put some logic aside and be ready to let imagination filter in...not completely, of course, but enough for some fun aspects to defy reason from the start. Like a girl, who has a chicken living on her head. Stella and Bock are quite the pair and set the perfect ton for this humorous read. While the first pages introduce Stella and Bock's curious friendship, that quickly seeps into the background as the true tale takes over, and they find themselves fighting to catch three witches. From here, the story holds tons of unexpected surprises and keeps boredom far away.
This book is heavily illustrated and carries the flair as if Stella is creating the sketches herself. Not only do these illustrations break up the text quite a bit, but they add to the fun and let each hilarious situation come across clearly. It also invites more reluctant readers to dive in.
I see this one as not only grabbing middle schoolers, who enjoy humorous reads, but the book also works as a nice read-aloud for slightly younger readers. It's quite a bit of fun to follow Stella and Bock's antics and see how they deal with the situations. The situations are ridiculous and quirky, and that's what makes it so much fun.
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