Cheri L. Hallwood

Halloween has come to Haunted Hollow in this rhyming tale, and little Winifred Witch, despite loving the holiday, is nowhere to be found. Burdened by a terrible secret - she is afraid of the dark - she inevitably hides when the big night comes along. Wishing every day that she could conquer her secret fear, she visits her Aunt Broomhilda, who is both understanding and kind, and learns that it isn't just little witches who sometimes feel afraid. She also is given a solution - a lantern to carry with her in the dark - that allows her to enjoy Halloween...

Although it doesn't cover any new ground - fearful little witches have also been depicted in such picture-books as Alice Low's The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches and Layn Marlow's The Witch With a Twitch - I thought that One Wish for Winifred Witch was a fairly cute story, one that might appeal to young Halloween lovers suffering from the same problem as the eponymous heroine. That said, the text itself was somewhat uneven - sometimes I thought it read well, and was rather clever, sometimes it felt awkward and a bit stumbly - and I didn't particularly care for the illustrations from Patricia M. Rose. The visuals here were colorful and cute, overall, but the human (or witchy) faces were somehow unconvincing, and did not appeal to me. Tastes vary of course, so other picture-book readers looking for tales about overcoming one's fears, in order to enjoy Halloween night, might want to give this one a try.… (altro)