Five Wacky Witches

by Ronit Chacham, Ora Ayal (Illustrator), Naomi Low Nakao (English Verse)

Five wacky witches are naughty, mischievous, and in lots of trouble.

28 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1998

About the author

Ronit Chacham was born in Israel in 1950 and studied English literature and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has worked as an editor, has taught drama and puppetry to children and adults, and has developed educational programs. She currently produces and directs street theater events and community theater. Chacham has published over 30 books for children and a novel for adults, as well as plays and TV scripts for children. Her book, Five Wacky Witches (Carnegie Hill Press), won the Israel Museum Prize (1994) and was included in the anthology The Best Children's Books in the World published by Abrams, New York. She's married to historian Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin and they have three children.


בוגרת ספרות אנגלית ופילוסופיה, האוניברסיטה העברית, ירושלים.
כתבתי ספרים ומחזות לילדים ולמבוגרים; עסקתי בהפקה ובבימוי של אירועי תיאטרון רחוב ותיאטרון קהילתי, של תיאטרוני בובות ומיצגים באנגליה ובישראל; לימדתי דרמה ותיאטרון בובות לילדים ולמבוגרים; עסקתי בפיתוח תכניות לימודים, בעריכת ספרים וכתבי עת; בהפקה ותחקירים לטלוויזיה

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five wacky witches cavort around town in this award-winning Israeli picture book, getting into all kinds of mischief, and eventually getting separated from one another. Croaking out their song like a band of hoarse crows, they proceed along, throwing tangerine peels at ladies in high heels, playing dress-up in a clothing store, making a mess in a coffee shop and a ruckus at the movie theater. Eventually Phyllis, the only witch left, must collect her compatriots so they can head home after a day of witchy misadventures...

Originally published in Hebrew as חמש מכשפות הלכו לטייל ("Five Witches Went for a Walk"), Five Wacky Witches pairs an engaging and humorous story told in rhyme with vibrantly colorful and quirky artwork. As it happens, illustrator Ora Ayal (sometimes credited in English as Ora Eyal) won the 1994 Israel Museum's Ben-Yitzhak Award for Outstanding Children's Book Illustration for her work in this book, and it is not difficult to see why. I loved her use of color here, and the stylized characters she created, with their humorous expressions and their sense of constant motion. The visuals fit very well with the text, matching its sense of rhythm, and its snappy refrain. I sought this one out for the witchy content—witchy picture books are a pet project of mine—and found that aspect of the book satisfying as well. These are not sweet witches, as one so often sees in recent children's stories, and not evil either—they are simply chaotic and somewhat maliciously mischievous, in an amusing way. I enjoyed this one, and would recommend it to picture book readers looking for witchy stories of a humorous nature, as well as to those seeking entertaining tales in rhyme.

Note: The text here is translated and adapted by Naomi Low Nakao, and is engaging. For a somewhat different version in English, one done by author Ronit Chacham and Doron Narkiss, see the 1996 anthology, Best Children's Books in the World: A Treasury of Illustrated Stories , which contains this and other picture books from around the world.

[Auna Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was in a large red story book that was read to me in the late 90s/ early 2000s. Can anyone tell me what the big red book that contained this story was called?

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

נהדר! משעשע וכיפי, עם חרוזים מתאימים ולא מאולצים. פשוט טוב!