Space Witch

Tilly the Witch #1

by Don Freeman

Tilly Ipswitch, Queen of Halloween, constructs a spaceship called Zoom Broom and sets out to scare creatures on other planets

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

47 pages, Paperback

Published September 27, 1979

About the author

Don Freeman was a painter, printmaker, cartoonist, children's book author, and illustrator. He was born in San Diego, California, attended high school in Missouri, and later moved to New York City where he studied etching with John Sloan.
Frequent subjects included Broadway theatre, politics, and the circus. He was also a jazz musician, and the brother of circus entrepreneur Randy Freeman.

Reviews

[Stay Fetters · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Kit, how would you like to spend Halloween frightening creatures in other planets?"

Cute story that takes you far back on an intergalactic journey with fantastic illustrations.

Great addition to my spooky collection.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tilly Ipswitch, Queen of Halloween, returns from a visit to the planetarium with a copy of the book, What Every Space Traveler Ought to Know, and decides that she and her cat will journey into outer space, in order to find new worlds, full of people they can frighten. With a hand-made spacecraft powered by jet-black magic, Tilly and a very unwilling Kit head for the stars, but when they run out of fuel, they crash land in a most unexpected place...

Somehow, I got turned around, when it comes to Don Freeman's two picture-books about this witch, assuming that this was a sequel to his Tilly Witch , which I read first. As it turns out, Space Witch was first published in 1959, a good ten years before Tilly Witch , so I read them in the wrong order. In any case, although I enjoyed this a tad more than the other, I can't say that Tilly Ipswitch comes even close to being one of my favorite witchy characters, or (despite the sincere recommendations and warnings of friends) that I feel very strongly about her at all. Recommended primarily to those who like the character, or who are interested in Don Freeman's work.

[Shiloah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and I feel like we also took a trip back to the space age.

[Juanita Moose · Rating 5 out of 5]

And old favorite, that excited my imagination with dreams of making my own spaceship.

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this is a bit of a longer read-aloud, it held my space-loving four-year-old's attention, and we both enjoyed it. Who wouldn't want to read about a witch who builds her own spaceship (the Zoom Broom) and flies off into space to scare aliens?

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty cute story of a semi-incompetent witch and her cat and their trip out into the Milky Way.

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable Halloween story with exceptional illustrations. Tilly decides it might be fun to scare some children from another planet this Halloween, so she sets about making a craft that can get her and her very cute cat into space. It doesn’t go quite to plan but they have quite an adventure.

I really enjoyed the turquoise and black illustrations, I loved that this story was longer, around 50 pages and had some interesting details that I would have absolutely loved as a child. I’m looking forward to reading some more of these.

Read on Open Library.

[Emilie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite Halloween books when I was young--it wasn't Halloween unless I had read Space Witch! I love the illustrations; they really add to the story. I also like the aspect that Tilly's journey through space could most certainly have been "real," but it also might just have been all in her imagination. This book is fun and a bit creepy without being too scary. 4.5 stars!

[Chrysa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tilly's at it again. With a notion to explore space, and find aliens to scare instead of Earthling children. It's a nice, short book, with nice pictures and even some funny bits thrown in. It's pretty good.

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well it's no surprise that this one isn't more widely known. What absurdity... and in a bad way, not an Edward Lear way. A couple of the pictures of the children charm, but still, 1.5 stars rounded down.

[Lili · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty good

[Julie Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun, vintage Halloween tale with the right amount of boo to delight young and old readers.

[Malia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was amazed my public library had a copy of this old book, and it is incredibly funny and charming! I love space, I love witches, I love Halloween, so this book had everything.

[Lisa of LaCreeperie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indeed there is no space like home..purrrr puuurrr purrr...

[Hendrix Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

childhood favorite

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a classic Halloween book in our house! My middle child latched onto it when he was three and it is a favorite every year. Very cute and not scary.

[Emily]

1. Tilly was a witch who wanted to go to space this Halloween to frighten creatures on other planets. She used her magic to create the perfect material to make her space ship out of. She headed out into space with her cat Kit but when they got to the moon there were no creatures so they kept going to other planets. After getting lost they finally made it to Mars where they found martians to scare. They hid in a house they found until they heard knocking and when she opened the door there were children there trick or treating that ended up scaring her! When she found out she had actually landed back on Earth, her and Kit flew back home on their broomstick and settled by the fire.

2. This was a cute book about a nice witch that children would enjoy. The illustrations are very simple and only use blue, black and white but this adds to the effects of the words because the story had a dark undertone to it. It is also good for children to see how to use descriptive and creative words when writing stories.

3. http://www.familyfun.ie/halloween-poems/ This website gives simple Halloween stories that are great for kids.

"Skeleton Hiccups" by Margery Cuyler tells the story of a ghost who tries to help a skeleton get rid of his hiccups - another creative Halloween story that kids can be inspired by to write their own creative stories!

4. "They scrambled out into the eerie moonlight and as Tilly started to climb down the steep cliff she caught sight of a swarm of tiny lights bobbing around on the level ground below. Outlandish-looking creatures with large heads and very small feet could be seen trotting back and forth and making weird, hornlike sounds."

This quote and book could be used during a unit on Halloween. The teacher could have the students write a fantasy story of their own and use this quote to talk about how to use descriptive language.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story gets off to a promising start with a witch who wants to travel in space. But then it's just pretty mundane from there. The pictures are nice, reminiscent of Bill Peet. But they don't have the warmth and appeal for me of the Corduroy series. Perhaps the difference is that this book is one color (teal) as opposed to full color. Whatever the case, this book never really gets off the ground for me.

[Tracy O · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when I was little and now I read it to Charlie. Cute story and very trippy, 70's-ish illustrations. A good book for 5-year olds.

[DaughterDaDa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I ever selected and bought for myself, at my elementary school book sale.

[Cana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mommy says: Halloween, witches, Martians and outer space. What more could you ask for?

[SmokingMirror · Rating 4 out of 5]

The purple color scheme adds to the fun.