The Witch's Amulet

by Walt Disney Company, Lucy Ruggles, Walt Disney Company (Illustrator)

This original junior novel is based on the popular characters from the four Halloweentown Disney Channel Original Movies. It's summer break at Witch University, but Marnie and Dylan Piper have their broomsticks in high gear! Marnie has her hands full as a Resident Advisor—and is keeping an eye on her younger sister, Sophie, who has enrolled in the University's junior sorcery school. Dylan's working as a lab assistant to Professor La Biel, a powerful warlock who's developing a youth serum. But when La Biel steals The Gift, an amulet that gives its wearer ultimate power over hearts and minds, will Marnie have the power to defeat the cunning warlock, or will her entire family fall under La Biel's spell?

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Paranormal, Halloween, Childrens, Fiction

124 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2007

About the author

Note: The decision was made to consolidate all Disney publications under the name Walt Disney Company. This profile is for Walt Disney, the characters he created, and the company he founded. Any questions, please ask in the Librarian's Group.

Walter Elias “Walt” Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Disney became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded, now known as The Walt Disney Company, today has annual revenues of approximately U.S. $35 billion.

Disney is particularly noted for being a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most famous fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, a character for which Disney himself was the original voice. He has been awarded four honorary Academy Awards and has won twenty-two competitive Academy Awards out of fifty-nine nominations, including a record four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual. He also won seven Emmy Awards. He is the namesake for Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the United States, as well as the international resorts Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, and Disneyland Hong Kong.

Disney died of lung cancer in Burbank, California, on December 15, 1966. The following year, construction began on Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. His brother Roy Disney inaugurated the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971.

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) (commonly referred to as Disney) is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, the company was reincorporated as Walt Disney Productions in 1929. Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and travel. Taking on its current name in 1986, The Walt Disney Company expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theatre, radio, publishing, and online media. In addition, it has created new divisions of the company in order to market more mature content than it typically associates with its flagship family-oriented brands.

The company is best known for the products of its film studio, the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, today one of the largest and best-known studios in Hollywood. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, and ABC Family; publishing, merchandising, and theatre divisions; and owns and licenses 11 theme parks around the world. On January 23, 2006, it was announced that Disney would purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. The deal was finalized on May 5. On December 31, 2009, Disney Company acquired the Marvel Entertainment, Inc. for $4.24 billion. The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since May 6, 1991. An early and well-known cartoon creation of the company, Mickey Mouse, is the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company.

--from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Tabby Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a summer that has arived to halloween town but they dont mean beaches suntans and icecream it means trouble is coming. and it is up to mary to keep an eye on all the students in Mrs pipers classroom also she is wating her sister stephine and about a hour later she comes up missing and Mrs piper starts to wounder since its haloween something bad might happen and it did. So they say that its someone in there famliy that took her and they have the amulet to the family... so if you might want to stop being bored and sart reading some good books like this then hoop in and we can read aloud.....

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good It's about a witch named Marnie.

[10-11 Lexie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a minor scary book with a splash of action. It is a ver very detail book about witches and warlocks. For those who enjoy these types of things this would be a good book.

[Elina Mäkitalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tykkäsin tästä, tarina oli hyvä ja erilaisia tapahtumia oli riittävästi näin lyhyeen kirjaan. Tarinankerronta oli kyllä hyvää, mutta välillä tuntui vähän jäyköhköltäkin. Ei se kovin suuri ongelma ollut. Tykkäsin siitä, että tarinaa kirjoitettiin monen ihmisen näkökulmasta eikä vain päähenkilön.

[Chloe :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I love anything to do with Halloweentown, this story fell a little flat. I give stories that are intended for a younger audience a lot of leeway, but the plot felt a little convenient. Things just happened to fall together in the end, but not without random info-dumping or small details being glossed over. I mean, huge lore was randomly dropped in the last 15 pages and none of the characters bat an eye. If you're 8-12, I think you'll like this just fine, but if you're reading it for nostalgia's sake, don't.

[✦BookishlyRichie✦ · Rating 5 out of 5]

cute little story! glad I bought it. I hope I find more of these books online. :)if you love "HALLOWEENTOWN" then this book is a must read!

[Maddie Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so fun. As cheesy as they are, I love the Halloweentown movies, and this was just a super cute addition to them.

[Alex Joseph · Rating 2.75 out of 5]

HalloweenTown is not a movie series I personally ever cared for. Every movie was just meh to me, and its singular book (for a cancelled series) is no exception. The Witch’s Amulet acts as a spiritual HalloweenTown 5 and has probably the lowest stakes of the series, so it also feels like it could be an episode of a TV series. Of course, we’re talking books, but with the film context, I find it very interesting we ever got to books. I’m glad this didn’t go on for more than one entry though because it wasn’t too interesting and I feel that visual awe from HalloweenTown’s films (which even I don’t care for) is noticeably gone from here and there’s not much visualization to chew on. The book itself has plenty of pros and cons; it’s short and there’s some fun fantasy elements for kids, and I liked some development with Marnie and Ethan’s relationship, plus with Sophie returning to the series. The direction they took with Sophie now being an actual character again unlike in HT4 is nice though I liked it more in concept, now getting to my negatives. Sophie’s character is sidelined most of the book and I wish she had more relevance to the story, as in being within the core cast and not in the background besides the beginning and climax. There’s an uninteresting crush a character has on Marnie which is like, we already know it’s not gonna work out + it’s only there to serve Marnie’ romance with Ethan, so I find it demeaning to the character who had said crush. Using vague terms for spoilers. And one of the biggest complaints I have is the damn character names. There’s an ensemble cast in the story and half of their names all end in an “ee” and some of their names could be put together to make tongue twisters. It’s just a bad writing decision I feel, and I wish they kept the cast at a minimum, used nicknames, or just removed some characters, say the newbies who didn’t matter. The story as well just isn’t standout from any other HalloweenTown adventure to me and feels like a copy and paste of the same plot we’ve seen every movie with a mediocre villain who wants to harm the main characters, usually manipulating/tricking them, and having the rest of the fam save each other. It’s trite by the third film and they kept going with it anyways. Overall, 5.5/10. It’s fine, but I don’t recommend it unless you are a diehard HalloweenTown fan, as I don’t personally care for the series (I only read this since it’s children’s horror lol). Justice for Dylan… bro never catches a break.

[Dana Decker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute fast read. I read it in about 40 minutes. I love Halloweentown and all the characters. Its one of my all time favorite movies and I wanted to read this because of my love for the movie. Very short. Easy read. Just a quick little story to get you back in the halloweentown world for a short time. It follows Marnie, the Cromwell family and some friends at witch university. See what happens. Worth the read. Im glad I read it.

[Starri Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

After her first year at Witch U, Marnie’s Summer is about to get crazy and unpredictable. With Sophie there to keep an eye on and Dylan working in the Science lab things seem to be going good. Until Sophie goes missing and so does the amulet. What will happen when someone isn’t who they say they are. And will they find Sophie in time? Will they be able to get the amulet back? Read and find out. You won’t be disappointed!

[Emily Ludwig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun and nostalgic. However, I'll never be over the recasting of Marnie in the movies and I wish that the book would have honored the original cast instead. I would have enjoyed the book much more that way. I also wasn't a fan of sisters being named Aggie and Maggie.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ihan hyvä tarina, mutta ajoittain aika kliseinen.

[James Curran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely short; the lack of length meant that I could not really get into the book.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the movies and this book! Would love it if more were written!!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was cute for a children's book. It brought back memories from my childhood. The halloweentown movies were my favorite growing up.

[Mary Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the nostalgia and honestly, not horrible

[Vic · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a fine kids book and addition to the franchise. A nice bit of world building and nostalgia, but nothing super significant. Did a great job of matching the movies’ tone tho

[Christopher Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was nice to have another Halloweentown story, since we’re probably never gonna get another movie!

[Electroclan17 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story feels backwards in character arcs from the 4th movie. The only part I liked is Sophie & Aggie are in the story more.

[Edie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring. Too much focus on unnecessary romance. Not enough story.

[Ashlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the cutest little book! I actually finished it about two months ago but I hadn't been around to update my Goodreads. I found this particular little gem sticking out of a box at our annual library sale. I had to have it! I grew up on/LOVE The "Halloweentown" movies and had no idea they ever made books out of them. It looks like this should be one of a series that was ongoing but I don't know if they did away with that after this book but I haven't been able to find any more info on it. Anyone know if there is more?

It was so cute and nice to reminisce on the things I loved from the movies. The spooky little Halloweentown, and the trolls and the witches house, the spells and magic, etc. Just brought back a lot of great childhood memories of watching the movies around Halloween.

[Emily Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this book was very interesting with who the characters were and their personality's were weird but still interesting. I thought that this was kind of like from the animation movie batman versus dracula because the guys name was backwards which read his real name which is what they did in the animation Batman movie. But I did like how they made the mother to be all worried about going away on vacation. I also like how the author made the teenagers personality.