Tom & Tallulah & The Witches' Feast

by Vivian French, Marta Kissi (Illustrator)

A rollicking fairytale adventure full of magical mayhem, from the makers of The Adventures of Alfie Onion and The Cherry Pie Princess.From much-loved author Vivian French and rising star Marta Kissi comes a spellbinding new adventure. After turning up late to each and every meeting, Tallulah Tickle has one last chance to keep her place in the witches’ circle. To prove herself she must prepare a mouth-watering midnight feast for the other witches in just three days – and there’s a catch. They’ve ordered Tallulah to make their favourite meals … but they won’t tell her what they are! Tallulah has always been a terrible cook and, to make matters even worse, wicked witch Gertrude Higgins has it in for her. With help from her little brother Tom, her trusty cat Sparks and a very chatty crow, can Tallulah cook up something special before time runs out? Vivian French's funny and uplifting story is brought to life by Marta Kissi's warm illustrations – the result is a charming book that's not to be missed!

Genres: Chapter Books

Paperback

Published September 6, 2018

About the author

Vivian June Isoult French MBE was born in 1945 and educated at Exeter University.
Vivian French was best known in school for being extremely skinny and for talking a lot. At school she developed an attachment to words and later became an actor, then a storyteller, and finally a writer of children's books. She is the author of more than two hundred books. Ms. French lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has four grown daughters.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vivian French makes writing stories look easy. This is a simple tale, perfectly told and perfect for the early mid-grade or chapter book reader. The witches in this story are assumed to be good, which is a lovely opposite to the approach of most books involving witches. "I thought all witches were good," Tom said, "just like Grandmother." (p94) Indeed, the evil witch is the outlier. The story reads a bit like the witches coven from Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books (beginning with The Wee Free Men) and would make a wonderful companion or precursor to those books. It has a sense of community, family, initiation for Tallulah, while sharing a love of family and cooperation to achieve the necessary goals - in this case, the creation of a witch's feast within a week's time, which would seem an easy enough task. However, Tallulah must figure out the favorite dish of each witch in the coven, and prepare them, even though she can't cook. Part mystery, part adventure, part cookbook, this is a delightful read.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The original idea was cute and I expected s fun read. But Tallulah wasn't a very likable character for me (I mostly felt sorry for Tom all the time) and the way Kibble was treated in this book... even if it was from the bad witch, it made me quite angry to read. So I just can't say that I enjoyed this book very much...

[whatbooknext · Rating 3 out of 5]

7+

Tallulah is late again, and the other witches in the Chumley Charmed Circle aren’t happy about it – especially Gertrude Higgins. An ultimatum is given by Gertrude. Tallulah has one more chance to prove herself to this witch circle. That chance comes in the challenge of a Midnight Feast made up of each witches’ favourite dish.

Keen to remain an apprentice in the group, Tallulah accepts the challenge. There’s only one problem. Tallulah is a terrible cook. She burns everything, mixes up the salt and the sugar constantly and rarely follows a recipe. That’s not her only worry. Her grandmother is sick and acting strangely, and her little brother Tom needs looking after. But Tom may be just what Tallulah needs?

Determination, kindness to creatures and family love are all ingredients that Tom & Tallulah put together to make things right again.

B & W illustrations pepper this young middle-grade read. A fun tale about ambition, good and bad magic, and siblings working together to help a loved one.

(Witch, Magic, Siblings, Black magic, Ambition, Spells, Cooking, Determination, Cooperation)

[Diana Ault · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another fun, quick read along the same lines as French’s The Adventures of Alfie Onion and The Cherry Pie Princess. I love that food features heavenly in these books! Like the others this one was an enjoyable in-one-sitting read, so cozy to have a nice little story with tea and biscuits. :) One of the main characters was frustrating in her personality and there wasn’t too much growth/change for her, but such is life sometimes. This would be a fun read aloud book for anytime but especially Halloween-time. ;) And then have a feast! There is a lot of fun food mentioned. And the artwork is a lot of fun too. ;)

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m already a fan of Vivian French so it was easy to love this tale. She creates characters with exaggerated traits but I love it because it makes for a good laugh, but also a good teaching moment. Kids reading this might say: “Why is Talulah impatient with her brother? Or why won’t she just read the dang recipe!? Haha

That opens up a few topics like pride, a sense of duty, taking time to really listen to someone, accepting help from others, etc.

I’ve also noticed how crucial a role their animal friends play in these books. My Ester is going to love these books.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tallulah may be very insecure, but that doesn't let her off being horrid and manipulative and ungrateful all the time. And she never really faces any consequences for her poor treatment of her brother. She does however give Tom the credit in the end for the cooking and baking, but it seemed she only did so because the other witches were on to her. But she failed to give him any of the credit for all the other stuff.

Personally, this one was also too witchy for me.
But it did have a nice detective element, and Tom was a good lad. And I always love animal sidekicks.

[Heidi Selas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was sold when witches were involved!

A sister who feels the weight of the world on her shoulders and rarely asks for help and a little brother who just wants to help. It causes some tension between the two, but I love the crazy events that happen along the way when she finally lets her brother help.

They're making a feast for their witch coven that must be perfect!

You'll get some laughs reading this one! I'll be reading this one out loud to my son next Halloween!

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fat shaming in a novel for children under the age of 8 is disgusting. Have we not moved on from forcing this bullshit down the throats of impressionable young girls?
Shame on French and shame on her publishers for allowing such damaging rhetoric to be printed.

[Papirklip · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 6yo daughter and I listened to an audiobook version of this story. Good story. Would love to read more about Tom and the witches. Tallulah was harder to like.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom needs to push Tallulah down a well. What an ungrateful cow.

[Emily T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great illustrations and a sweet story about sibling and family bonds.

[Steph Hayward-bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story for young readers who are starting to read chapter books. I really enjoyed reading it with my daughter and loved the characters.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book and a perfect October read with my kids. I didn’t love Tallulah. She didn’t treat Tom nicely, refused to let him cook, didn’t own up to her shortcomings, didn’t do any work, and still became a witch. Tom was great and the story was cute, but I feel like the end could’ve been wrapped up a bit better. Still a fun read and will read again next year!