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Summary
Summary
In this story, seven sweet children are transformed by an evil witch into specific types of food. "The inherent drama of the story, combined with the haunting images the art provides, gives the picture book a timeless quality."-- Booklist
Author Notes
Audrey Wood was born on August 12, 1948. She is a children's book author and illustrator. Her books include Blue Sky, Silly Sally, Weird Parents, The Red Racer, and Tugford Wanted To Be Bad. She also collaborates with her husband Don Wood on picture books. These include Moonflute, The Napping House, Tickle-Octopus, Bright and Early Thursday Evening, and The Full Moon at the Napping House.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3 This original story reads like a pure folktale. The poor mother of seven children, each named for a day of the week, goes off to market promising to return with individual gifts that each child has requested and admonishing them to lock the door to strangers and not to touch the fire. The gullible children are tricked into disobeying their mother by the witch, Heckedy Peg, who turns them all into various kinds of food. The mother can rescue her children only by guessing which child is the fish, the roast rib, the bread, etc., a trick she neatly performs by matching each kind of food with the gift that each child had requested (Monday asked for butter, so Monday is the bread, etc.). This story, deep and rich with folk wisdom, is stunningly illustrated with Don Wood's luminous paintings. He shows the countryside as a true fairy tale settingthe half-timbered village, thatched roof cottages, haymakers in the field, and the witch's hut in dark, dank woods. With variety of color and line he enhances every nuance of the text, from the individuality of the children and the stalwart mother to the unrelenting evil of the witch. A tour de force in every way. Connie C. Rockman, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, Conn. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Although text and art in this picture book match as hand and glove, it is really the ornate illustrations that carry it aloft to the dimension of classic fairytale. The mother of seven children (who are named for each day of the week) leaves for the market with a list of things for thembutter, knife, pitcher, honey, salt, crackers and egg pudding. The witch Heckedy Peg who ``lost her leg'' drops in on the kids and turns them into foodbread, pie, milk, porridge, fish, cheese and roast rib. The mother finds her children and saves them by matching each food item on her list, as in bread and butter, cheese and crackers, etc. The story has essential elements of playfulness and eeriness; also evident is a poetic license that effects a looseness in structure. The realistic figures of the happy inhabitants of the cottage are bathed in bursts of light, in contrast to the shadowy, ghastly hideout of Heckedy Peg. Ages 4-8. (September) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
An original fairy tale containing traditional elements and illustrated in the same style as the author-artist team's ebullient, Caldecott Honor-winning King Bidgood's in the Bathtub. A poor mother has seven children, shown as mischievious but helpful. She goes to market, promising gifts, warning against strangers and fire. The inevitable intruder is a witch (Heckedy Peg) who offers gold in return for a light for her pipe; the children not only succumb, but are seen cavorting with lighted straw. The witch turns them into food; he mother, following, reclaims them by matching her gifts to their new forms: bread with butter, salt with fish, etc. The witch is chased, leaps off the bridge, and "". . .was never seen again"" (American children know what water does to witches). Pictured in a medieval setting, this sturdy, forthright tale is distinguished by skillfully designed and executed illustrations, painted in oils. The lively children and vibrant humor are reminiscent of Frans Hals; the witch is truly fearsome; the transformed children are surprised into ghostly evanescence, while the viands they become are unpleasantly solid. The mother is an indomitable saviour. Admirable, yet, for all its proficiency, almost stolid--perhaps a little less definition would leave more room for the imagination. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Ages 4-7. Memorable oil paintings in brilliant colors emphasize the magic in this tale of a mother who uses her wits to save her children from a witch's machinations. (S 15 87)
