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Not Just a Witch / Dial a Ghost
Not just a witch is about a witch name dHeckie. Heckie is not just a witch. She's a good witch who want to make the world a better place. Dial a ghcost is a crazy hilarious adventure filled with eccentric spirits and bizarre human character. Two of the author's stories in one volume. Ages 7+
Paperback
Published January 1, 2002
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About the author
Eva Ibbotson
82 books2,363 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 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 17, 2022
In Not just a Witch, a well-meaning witch, Heckie, who turns evil people into animals befriend a lonely boy called Daniel. As their friendship grows, she makes another acquaintance - a rich coat maker with unsual requests. Heckie becomes overwhelmed with all the people in her life she wants to help out and wonders whether turning people into animals is really a good idea.
In Dial-a-ghost, an agency who finds accommodation for unhappy ghosts gets things terribly mixed up. Despite all the chaos, not all of them are unhappy with the muddled up arrangements.
I enjoyed both these stories, they are quite silly and over-the-top, but it makes for a lovely light and fun read. Not just a Witch was surprisingly gruesome for a children's story, but it had some good values thrown in and a happy ending.
Dial-a-ghost was my favourite one of the two. The only thing that put me off a little was the many characters of which I couldn't quite keep track - but I blame that on my ageing and lazy brain.
As always, Eva Ibbotson's books teaches acceptance and loyalty, and the simplicity with which these values were instilled here was delightful! A really fun read!
In Dial-a-ghost, an agency who finds accommodation for unhappy ghosts gets things terribly mixed up. Despite all the chaos, not all of them are unhappy with the muddled up arrangements.
I enjoyed both these stories, they are quite silly and over-the-top, but it makes for a lovely light and fun read. Not just a Witch was surprisingly gruesome for a children's story, but it had some good values thrown in and a happy ending.
Dial-a-ghost was my favourite one of the two. The only thing that put me off a little was the many characters of which I couldn't quite keep track - but I blame that on my ageing and lazy brain.
As always, Eva Ibbotson's books teaches acceptance and loyalty, and the simplicity with which these values were instilled here was delightful! A really fun read!
January 16, 2020
Just finished reading Dial a Ghost and I loved it! I felt so upset when I thought Wilkinson's died. But was laughing when I found out Fulton got scammed!
Over all a lovely heartwarming story!
Over all a lovely heartwarming story!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2022
Just a lovely little story. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
January 26, 2010
Not Just A Witch (4 stars)
The first novel in this book is about Heckie who is an animal witch (which does not mean that she's an animal who's a witch but that she can transform anything into an animal). She's a good witch who's all about fighting wickedness. With the help of a few children and a few other wizards and witches she finds wicked people and turns them into animals. One day she meets Mr. Knacksap who is thoroughly wicked but she doesn't notice because she falls in love with him. Her friends try to show her how evil her new lover is but she won't listen until her old friend Dora, a stone witch (which does not mean that she's a stone that's a witch but that she can turn anything into stone) shows up.
This story is quick and simple (in a children's book way), yet not boring. Eva Ibbotson has a lot of original ideas and she's not afraid to present them in every ugly detail (I must admit I found Heckie's transformation toe and the DragWORM a bit disgusting). What really surprised me were the addressed topics that range from racism to vegetarianism to animal cruelty, especially if you consider that the book was published in 1989. Again Eva Ibbotson does not shy away from describing every brutal detail about these topics. I wouldn't worry about it being too much for kids, I think they'd appreciate the simple honesty of it.
One last thing I liked was the way love was portrayed. Even though Mr. Knacksap has betrayed Heckie in the most horrible way, she still is heartbroken at the end even though she knows how wicked he is. Mr. Knacksap himself is a one-dimensional, typical bad guy, nevertheless Heckie doesn't get over this within 5 minutes which was very realistic.
__________
Dial A Ghost (2 stars)
I didn't like this story half as much as Not Just A Witch, maybe it would've been different if Dial A Ghost had been the first novel in this book. But it wasn't, so all I got was a really nice basic idea (an agency that helps ghosts to find new homes by looking for people who are willing to adopt ghosts) thrown in with all the typical Eva Ibbotson elements: a little left-alone boy (Oliver), vegetarianism (neither Oliver nor his friends like to eat meat because they watched a movie about a slaughterhouse), animal cruelty (the ghost animals that were used for testing - even though this turned out to be a lie) and a mix-up (the dial-a-ghost-agency sending the Shreaker ghosts to the nuns and the Wilkinsons to Helton Hall). Even the surprising element (Addie being the lost child of the Shreakers) was predictable from an early page on.
All the addressed topics reminded me of "Not Just A Witch" and "The Beasts of Clawstone Castle", both books by Eva Ibbotson. They're nice topics and she's good at writing about them but they're also predictable and therefore boring. Mixed with her honest way of describing disgusting things (Mrs. Shreaker's falling off toes) and unfortunately a lack of the naive humour I've come to love her for, this novel really put me off and I just wanted it to end quickly.
The first novel in this book is about Heckie who is an animal witch (which does not mean that she's an animal who's a witch but that she can transform anything into an animal). She's a good witch who's all about fighting wickedness. With the help of a few children and a few other wizards and witches she finds wicked people and turns them into animals. One day she meets Mr. Knacksap who is thoroughly wicked but she doesn't notice because she falls in love with him. Her friends try to show her how evil her new lover is but she won't listen until her old friend Dora, a stone witch (which does not mean that she's a stone that's a witch but that she can turn anything into stone) shows up.
This story is quick and simple (in a children's book way), yet not boring. Eva Ibbotson has a lot of original ideas and she's not afraid to present them in every ugly detail (I must admit I found Heckie's transformation toe and the DragWORM a bit disgusting). What really surprised me were the addressed topics that range from racism to vegetarianism to animal cruelty, especially if you consider that the book was published in 1989. Again Eva Ibbotson does not shy away from describing every brutal detail about these topics. I wouldn't worry about it being too much for kids, I think they'd appreciate the simple honesty of it.
One last thing I liked was the way love was portrayed. Even though Mr. Knacksap has betrayed Heckie in the most horrible way, she still is heartbroken at the end even though she knows how wicked he is. Mr. Knacksap himself is a one-dimensional, typical bad guy, nevertheless Heckie doesn't get over this within 5 minutes which was very realistic.
__________
Dial A Ghost (2 stars)
I didn't like this story half as much as Not Just A Witch, maybe it would've been different if Dial A Ghost had been the first novel in this book. But it wasn't, so all I got was a really nice basic idea (an agency that helps ghosts to find new homes by looking for people who are willing to adopt ghosts) thrown in with all the typical Eva Ibbotson elements: a little left-alone boy (Oliver), vegetarianism (neither Oliver nor his friends like to eat meat because they watched a movie about a slaughterhouse), animal cruelty (the ghost animals that were used for testing - even though this turned out to be a lie) and a mix-up (the dial-a-ghost-agency sending the Shreaker ghosts to the nuns and the Wilkinsons to Helton Hall). Even the surprising element (Addie being the lost child of the Shreakers) was predictable from an early page on.
All the addressed topics reminded me of "Not Just A Witch" and "The Beasts of Clawstone Castle", both books by Eva Ibbotson. They're nice topics and she's good at writing about them but they're also predictable and therefore boring. Mixed with her honest way of describing disgusting things (Mrs. Shreaker's falling off toes) and unfortunately a lack of the naive humour I've come to love her for, this novel really put me off and I just wanted it to end quickly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 22, 2012
I finished reading this book this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it. This book is great fun - just enough spookiness and scares, but cleverly mixed with good fun and giggles. This book is heart-warming and shows the importance of friends - even if they're ghosts. Kids will love it. (This review is for "Dial a Ghost".)
January 2, 2010
So Far i have read not just a witch and was not impresed however it does have a high standard to meet her other books
Dial a Ghost has boosted me back again for Eva Ibottson i think she stands as my most favourite author then again i haven't read to many books.
Dial a Ghost has boosted me back again for Eva Ibottson i think she stands as my most favourite author then again i haven't read to many books.
September 24, 2011
I read this when I was twelve and enjoyed it enough, I guess. Though I think it'd be more appropriate for seven year olds. Not badly written, but it doesn't really stand out. Ideas are good, but not a challenging read if you know what I mean.
January 31, 2008
note that in this one book there are two stories.
December 4, 2011
I loved the book! I really lived into the book and when the evil man tricked them I were like " OH NO! Don't let him trick you Heckie, or Dora, !!"
June 4, 2017
The first book I have ever read.
September 25, 2013
For those of us who love Harry Potter:)
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews