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Eva Ibbotson 3-in-1: Which Witch?, The Secret of Platform 13 & Island of the Aunts
Which Witch?
Arriman the Awful, the Wizard of the North, needs a wife, and, naturally, the only woman a wizard can marry is a witch. But which witch will Arriman choose? Warty, wicked, or just plain rude-witches galore enter his spell-casting competition. Poor Belladonna doesn't have a chance. Her spells conjure up pink begonias or ice-cream sundaes, not a single viper or toad. But with the help of a mysterious orphan and a worm named Rover, Belladonna just might do something really sinister.
The Secret of Platform 13
A forgotten door on an abandoned railway platform is the entrance to a magical kingdom--an island where humans live happily with feys, mermaids, ogres, and other wonderful creatures. Carefully hidden from the world, the Island is only accessible when the door opens for nine days every nine years. A lot can go wrong in nine days. When the beastly Mrs. Trottle kidnaps the prince of the Island, it's up to a strange band of rescuers to save him. But can an ogre, a hag, a wizard, and a fey really troop around London unnoticed?
Island of the Aunts
When the kindly old aunts decide that they need help caring for creatures who live on their hidden island, they know that adults can't be trusted. What they need are a few special children who can keep a secret-a secret as big as a magical island. And what better way to get children who can keep really big secrets, than to kidnap them! (After all, some children just plain need to be kidnapped.)
Arriman the Awful, the Wizard of the North, needs a wife, and, naturally, the only woman a wizard can marry is a witch. But which witch will Arriman choose? Warty, wicked, or just plain rude-witches galore enter his spell-casting competition. Poor Belladonna doesn't have a chance. Her spells conjure up pink begonias or ice-cream sundaes, not a single viper or toad. But with the help of a mysterious orphan and a worm named Rover, Belladonna just might do something really sinister.
The Secret of Platform 13
A forgotten door on an abandoned railway platform is the entrance to a magical kingdom--an island where humans live happily with feys, mermaids, ogres, and other wonderful creatures. Carefully hidden from the world, the Island is only accessible when the door opens for nine days every nine years. A lot can go wrong in nine days. When the beastly Mrs. Trottle kidnaps the prince of the Island, it's up to a strange band of rescuers to save him. But can an ogre, a hag, a wizard, and a fey really troop around London unnoticed?
Island of the Aunts
When the kindly old aunts decide that they need help caring for creatures who live on their hidden island, they know that adults can't be trusted. What they need are a few special children who can keep a secret-a secret as big as a magical island. And what better way to get children who can keep really big secrets, than to kidnap them! (After all, some children just plain need to be kidnapped.)
768 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
6 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
Eva Ibbotson
79 books2,357 followersEva Ibbotson (Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner) was a novelist specializing in romance and children's fantasy.
She was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. When Hitler appeared, her family moved to England. She attended Bedford College, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946-47; and the University of Durham, graduating with a diploma in education in 1965. Eva had intended to be a physiologist but was put off by animal testing. Instead, she married and raised a family, returning to school to become a teacher in the 1960s. They have three sons and a daughter.
Eva began writing with the television drama “Linda Came Today” in 1965. Ten years later, she published her first novel, “The Great Ghost Rescue”. Eva has written numerous books including “The Secret Of Platform 13”, “Journey To The River Sea”, “Which Witch?”, “Island Of The Aunts”, and “Dial-A-Ghost”. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for “Journey To The River Sea” and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature.
Her books are imaginative and humorous and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite that she disliked thinking about them. She created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things.
Some of the books, particularly “Journey To The River Sea”, reflect Eva's love of nature. Eva wrote this book in honour of her husband (who had died before), a naturalist. The book had been in her head for years.
Eva said she dislikes "financial greed and a lust for power" and often creates antagonists in her books who have these characteristics. Some have been struck by the similarity of “Platform 9 3/4” in J.K. Rowling's books to Eva's “The Secret Of Platform 13”, which came out three years before the first Harry Potter book.
Her love of Austria is evident in works such as “The Star Of Kazan” and “A Song For Summer”. These books, set in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love for all things natural.
She was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. When Hitler appeared, her family moved to England. She attended Bedford College, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946-47; and the University of Durham, graduating with a diploma in education in 1965. Eva had intended to be a physiologist but was put off by animal testing. Instead, she married and raised a family, returning to school to become a teacher in the 1960s. They have three sons and a daughter.
Eva began writing with the television drama “Linda Came Today” in 1965. Ten years later, she published her first novel, “The Great Ghost Rescue”. Eva has written numerous books including “The Secret Of Platform 13”, “Journey To The River Sea”, “Which Witch?”, “Island Of The Aunts”, and “Dial-A-Ghost”. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for “Journey To The River Sea” and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature.
Her books are imaginative and humorous and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite that she disliked thinking about them. She created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things.
Some of the books, particularly “Journey To The River Sea”, reflect Eva's love of nature. Eva wrote this book in honour of her husband (who had died before), a naturalist. The book had been in her head for years.
Eva said she dislikes "financial greed and a lust for power" and often creates antagonists in her books who have these characteristics. Some have been struck by the similarity of “Platform 9 3/4” in J.K. Rowling's books to Eva's “The Secret Of Platform 13”, which came out three years before the first Harry Potter book.
Her love of Austria is evident in works such as “The Star Of Kazan” and “A Song For Summer”. These books, set in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love for all things natural.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 8, 2021
I haven’t ever read Ibbotson, so I didn’t know what to expect. To sum up: it’s *mixed*. These don’t have anything very bad in them, well, more or less, but they also don’t have anything very good. Call it “virtue,” or “militant decency,” or a soul, or a spine—they don’t have much of it and it’s just so empty. And that’s why I won’t hand these to my kids.
::mild spoilers::
“Which Witch?” is probably the weakest of the three. It’s like The Bachelorette but with witches trying to impress a lone wizard, who mainly is attractive because plot. The central conceit was the magic users all treat bad as good and the heroine witch is embarrassed about her white magic and wants to be bad—like Megamind. “You just don’t know what’s good for bad!” But while Megamind came to a really emotionally satisfying conclusion, I don’t think Ibbotson managed to pull it off. I sort of marvel that so many female characters had so little to talk about but the marriage contest! I also believe newlyweds should be allowed to kiss on their wedding night, even in a children’s book. The whole thing felt silly.
“The Secret of Platform 13” did a much better job suspending my disbelief. This was probably my favorite. I am a little disturbed by her casual approach to kidnapping as solution to problems, and also with the Wailing Nurses’ self-imposed penances. They were just—disproportionate. This book has a ton in common with Harry Potter, including an evil piglike quasi-brother. I would like the fat-people-as-villain trope to die. Clearly she and Rowling are working with the same literary and cultural heritage. But Rowling’s characters are far more nuanced and have arcs and redemption and stuff.
“Island of the Aunts” took that freewheeling kidnapping motif and made it the central plot. She did sort of drop consequences on the protagonists for it—but meliorated because after all the kidnappings were in a good cause. I think the most surprising part of this was, dropped in among the judgy adjectives and rather obvious 1990s environmentalism, there was… the numinous. The kraken was like a god, and where he came, all was more itself and more beautiful and just more. Astonishing.
::mild spoilers::
“Which Witch?” is probably the weakest of the three. It’s like The Bachelorette but with witches trying to impress a lone wizard, who mainly is attractive because plot. The central conceit was the magic users all treat bad as good and the heroine witch is embarrassed about her white magic and wants to be bad—like Megamind. “You just don’t know what’s good for bad!” But while Megamind came to a really emotionally satisfying conclusion, I don’t think Ibbotson managed to pull it off. I sort of marvel that so many female characters had so little to talk about but the marriage contest! I also believe newlyweds should be allowed to kiss on their wedding night, even in a children’s book. The whole thing felt silly.
“The Secret of Platform 13” did a much better job suspending my disbelief. This was probably my favorite. I am a little disturbed by her casual approach to kidnapping as solution to problems, and also with the Wailing Nurses’ self-imposed penances. They were just—disproportionate. This book has a ton in common with Harry Potter, including an evil piglike quasi-brother. I would like the fat-people-as-villain trope to die. Clearly she and Rowling are working with the same literary and cultural heritage. But Rowling’s characters are far more nuanced and have arcs and redemption and stuff.
“Island of the Aunts” took that freewheeling kidnapping motif and made it the central plot. She did sort of drop consequences on the protagonists for it—but meliorated because after all the kidnappings were in a good cause. I think the most surprising part of this was, dropped in among the judgy adjectives and rather obvious 1990s environmentalism, there was… the numinous. The kraken was like a god, and where he came, all was more itself and more beautiful and just more. Astonishing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2024
There are three stories here, but this review will be for Which Witch? since that was the only one I read. There's something about British children's Fantasy that feels so cozy, and the way "bad" and "good" are handled without judgement is very interesting. All in all, I thought the story was very cute!
September 16, 2018
Delightful stories of magic and goodness in a world troubled by adult humans.
August 17, 2019
I really liked the first two stories in this collection. I was considerably less in love with the third story. It felt rushed and unfinished.
September 18, 2012
I bought this book at a used book store and since I've read books by Eva Ibbotson before, I decided to get this one. This book is really 3 books in one. It is more for middle school age kids, I think, or at least older elementary. I was a little surprised more than once at things she put in these books - not bad stuff like bad words or anything - but just things in the story. For instance, in Island of the Aunts, these "aunts" kidnap children and take them to their island. I just thought that was a little weird for her to have that happen in her book, when nowadays people are so afraid of stuff like that. I wouldn't want a child to think it was ok for anyone to kidnap anyone for any reason. Maybe I'm being a prude?
November 5, 2015
When my cousin and I were younger, I remember him reading these books and I had always wanted to read them. Now that reading is pretty much my life, I picked this collection up at the library after seeing it and remembering how my cousin enjoyed these particular stories. I loved them!!! Sometimes it is nice to go back to the Young Adult or Children's novels and read something less complicated and purely fun. Island of the Aunts was definitely my favorite. This is a great collection that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. I will definitely be keeping my eyes out for more of Ibbotson's tales!
March 3, 2009
Out of the three novels in this collection, Island of the Aunts was my favorite. Ibbotson's stories remind a lot of Roald Dahl, good children who are mistreated, bad children who are spoiled brats, a few kind adults and a lot of nasty ones along with lots of magical elements and fantastical creatures.
November 20, 2007
Which Witch was amazing and one that I have read a few times, I never really could got into The secret of Platform 13, and I love reading Island of the aunts, Eva Ibbotson just has a fantastic way of taking out world and adding to it mythical people or animals that make it real, it's amazing
September 27, 2010
I only wish I had found out about this author sooner. Ibbotson is smack in the middle of the road between Roald Dahl and J.K. Rowling (and that's a good road to be on). Loved all three--Which Witch? and Island of the Aunts especially.
September 15, 2007
Lots of fun. Can't wait to find some more by this author.
January 2, 2008
THree funny stories written by a funny author. I loved it!!
Read
November 17, 2008easy and fun
January 5, 2009
I've read everything in this book except for Island of the Aunts, so that's the one I'm reading now. Loving it so far!
June 22, 2009
these were amazingly funny books, which is why i gave them five stars. i love Ibbotson's way of discription and characters. it gives the story its "pazzaz".
Read
December 18, 2012I read it when I was little and don't remember it too well but when I tried reading it again it wasn't what I was really interested in.
January 4, 2011
great love her books
September 25, 2011
In a word this whole collection was just: cute! Very fun read, definately a keeper if you have kids!
February 8, 2014
Some of my very favourite books, ever!
February 11, 2016
Very enjoyable stories, interesting, well written
August 20, 2020
The secret of platfrom 13 7/10/16 five stars
Which Witch 7/21/18-7/22/18 four stars
Which Witch 7/21/18-7/22/18 four stars
August 23, 2024
Reread these 3 childhood favorites for a dose of nostalgia and magic this summer. And they’re even better than I remembered!
Currently reading
January 2, 2009We like the ghosts and the humor and the suspense.
May 21, 2010
th efirst was my favorite, Which Witch?
September 28, 2010
One of my favorite authors and some of my favorite books.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews