The Resident Witch

by Marian T. Place

A lowly apprentice witch seeks a promotion in witchdom by becoming Resident Witch for a children's amusement park.

Genres: Fantasy, Witches

119 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

Reviews

[Bianca Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all time favorite childhood books, bought it at the witch museum in Salem, MA on a family vacation. Must have read it over 10 times. Simple, cute, heartwarming.

[Jan Yip · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my childhood favorites!

[Jenne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haha, what even is this book? It's such a weird little story. Is it actually charming, or is it just nostalgia for my wasted youth (wasted constantly rereading books like this...)?

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming world-building of the intersection of traditional old witches with broomsticks, and younger ones who are excited by Earth's entry into Space. My library's copy so beloved that the final illustration is torn out.

[Connie Gunderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This and "The Witch Who Saved Halloween" are great old-school chapter books for about 4th grade level readers.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

R loved The Witch Who Saved Halloween by the same author, so as soon as we finished it he insisted we start this one. I have fond memories of reading this when I was young.

[Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book for kids during the Halloween season!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really loving tracking down these books from my childhood and reading them again. I'm surprised at how much I remember!

[Lisa of LaCreeperie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 actually. Can't really put my finger on what it is I didn't care for in this story, but there it is. Meh.

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book because it came with a bundle of three children’s books, one of which I’ve been wanting to reread for quite a while, and one of which interested me enough for other reasons that I decided to buy the witch-themed bundle.

For my purposes, this is the lesser of the three books, but then, I’m hardly in the demographic, and probably never was.

It’s a neat little story about a young witch who enjoys being a witch, lives with her aunt in a barn with a whole lot of cats and bats, but also enjoys the company of humans. Over the course of the story she chooses to make a place for herself as a resident witch at a human amusement park.

One of the funnier bits is at the circus when her human friend offers her a hot dog—she loves hot dogs, but it turns out this isn’t really a dog and isn’t nearly as good.

Magic in this book requires knowing magic words, which are taught to witches as they progress through the ranks of witch-hood. There isn’t much limit to their powers, except that if they get found out by humans, they (supposedly) are turned into toads. Witcheena is a motormouth, however, so she’s always risking being found out.

[Mai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story about a little witch who wants a friend.

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rereading The Resident Witch with my daughter feels so special 🧡 It was one of my favorites growing up.

[Elizabeth Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this in hardcopy as a child, before I'd read anything else by this author. It remains a childhood favorite.

[Katherine Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was in first grade, the local library was having a book give-away and there were mountains of free books, this book was the only book I wanted, when I saw the cover, I felt I saw myself. This was my first chapter book, it was above my reading level, but in second grade my teacher saw me carrying it around and reading it every day and she got a copy to read out loud to the whole class. I dressed up as a witch every Halloween for years, this book was a treasure to me.

[Ariana · Rating 3 out of 5]

i thought the book was cute and nice for children