Winnie's Magic Wand

Winnie the Witch #4

by Valerie Thomas, Korky Paul (Illustrator)

A NEW ADVENTURE OF THE WITCH MIMI AND HER CAT, REGERIO. FUNNY, LIGHT, BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Halloween, Fantasy, Witches, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2018

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Valerie Thomas is the author of the bestselling and much loved Winnie the Witch picture books, illustrated by Korky Paul.

Valerie was born in Australia and has lived there for most of her life. Although she doesn’t have a broomstick, she has traveled to most parts of the world, and she is now trying to organize her life so that she never has to experience another winter. She used to live with a big black cat exactly like Wilbur, but luckily her house was not black.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winnie the Witch returns in this fourth picture-book adventure from Australian author Valerie Thomas and British illustrator Korky Paul, frantically preparing for the upcoming Witches' Magic Show, in which she has promised to appear. When Winnie discovers that her party dress is stained, she immediately throws it into the washing machine, only to discover afterward that she has also washed her wand! As spell after spell backfires - in attempting to transform an apple into an orange, she creates an apple tree; in trying to turn the apple tree back into an apple, she makes a massive apple pie - our witchy heroine is soon in despair. Luckily her cat, Wilbur, has a plan, running to town to fetch her a replacement wand...

I enjoyed Winnie's Magic Wand as much as the other entries in the Winnie the Witch series I have read, finding the story-line entertaining, and the detailed artwork appealing. Korky Paul always manages to create such zany fun in his pictures, with lots of amusing little details - the frog's leg sticking out of Winnie's pocket, at one point; the many little creatures (they look like miniature dragons) living in corners of Winnie's house - and two main characters who are both endearing and a little maniacal. Wilbur's grin in some scenes is priceless! Apparently the idea for this story came from the children of a primary school in Cyprus, and the artwork reflects this in subtle ways, with Greek lettering on everything from Winnie's laundry detergent to the newspaper a man at the magic show is reading. As always, with the Winnie books, the endpapers were created by a child fan of the series, in this case, a ten-year-old girl. All in all, an entertaining addition to an excellent witchy series! I will definitely be tracking down the rest of Winnie's adventures...

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winnie the Witch and her frantic cat Wilbur are fast becoming one of my favourite comic duos and in this tale, again superbly illustrated by Korky Paul, they are just as zany.

Winnie inadvertently puts her wand into the washing machine with the clothes she intends to wear at the magic show that evening. It comes out all crumpled and soggy and what is more, it won't work any magic. She is naturally concerned as what she should do because her adoring public will be expecting great things from her at the show.

Wilbur goes into town to try and buy her a new wand and he finds one in the final shop he goes in, WandsRus. Winnie congratulates her and they fly off to the show on Winnie's broomstick. When Winnie gets on stage she tries out her wand on Wilbur, intending to turn him into a green cat. Despite the use of her favourite word ABRACADABRA nothing happens so she tries again and whoosh ... well something happens ... please read this great book and see!

[Rachel Pinkney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just what we needed after an indoor play day. We even managed to whisper Abracadabra!!!

[Exina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Winnie's Magic Wand is part of the Winnie the Witch series by Valerie Thomas, with the oddish and fun illustrations of Korky Paul.

Winnie's magic wand accidentally gets into the washing machine and it gets ruined. It's okay.

2 stars

[Daan Kerckenaere · Rating 4 out of 5]

leuk

[Alyce Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can vaguely remember reading Winnie the Witch stories when I was much younger, but I think I enjoyed them more than I enjoyed The Magic Wand.
I have a feeling I would have enjoyed this much more if I'd been the intended audience, but with Winnie's malfunctioning wand bursting into a bunch of flowers (a gorgeously drawn yet predictable conclusion) I found myself a little underwhelmed. My little one also wasn't very interested, as the Winnie the Witch books are a bit wordier than most picture books and she is still very small, but we will be trying her again with them when she's a little older.
However, this may have been because it just wasn't as entertaining as the other two stories that featured in the story time along with it - it's probably much better if you read it on its own!

[Elle-Mae Dunn]

Overall, I enjoyed reading the story to the children in my class, as it gave me the opportunity to use different voices to add emphasis to the story. The language used was easy for children understand and follow throughout the story.

[Aiko · Rating 4 out of 5]

ilustrasinya bagus banget :D

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Winnie the Witch story to add to the collection.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Winnie book. The story was entertaining, but I loved the illustrations. I look foward to further stories.

[Sharon Magenta · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love the combinations how wilbur cat looked everywhere in the city for a magic wand for winnie the witches show i love how the story is putten together my aunty also has one of the novels

[AliSs Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lindo libro para niños que van empezando a leer, con sus cortas y divertidas historias

[Jenna Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny story about Winnie getting ready for a magical act with Wilbur while she's having difficulties with her wand.

[Mine💗 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me hubiese encantado leer esta historia años atrás. Es entretenida y me parece un buen libro que regalar a los niños. Además me encanta la amistad entre Wilbur y Winnie.

[Lara Bate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about a witch who had to do a performance but her wand wasn't working too well. They ended up getting another one. The performance didn't go to plan but ended up being good anyway.

[Alicia Robinson]

Josau

[RollinMonkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winnie the Witch jumps out of bed on a very special day, let's hope nothing will go wrong.
Good story, fabulously illustrated !

[Tadas Supronas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Linksma istorija apie išsiblaškiusią raganaitę Vinę. Gražios iliustracijos.

[Tara Atlantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very entertaining story about Winnie the Witch and how she washes her magic wand.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story 3 little girls adored it.

[Dobby Girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected something special in the end, but I was a little bit disappointed. I thought it would be better for Winnie just to keep her magic wand and use it in the show. Even though the stick turned an apple into an apple tree, and that into a big apple pie, it still works. I thought it was way better than before actually. So somewhat disapointed about story. But still Wilbur and Winnie look lovely and i go grabbing the next book right now.

[Hung-ya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less fun but Winnie still knows how to do a trick or two.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of the new books in the teacher's lounge for english so I had to read it. Not very much to say about it. Sweet story with a not so thrilling storyline.