Winnie the Witch

Infobox Book |
name = Winnie The Witch
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Valerie Thomas
illustrator = Korky Paul
cover_artist =
country =
language = English
series =
genre = Children's literature
publisher = Oxford University Press
pub_date = 1987
media_type =
pages = 32 pages
isbn = 0192726838
oclc =

Winnie The Witch is a series of picture books, written by Valerie Thomas and illustrated by Korky Paul. Eight sequels have been released so far. According to Oxford University Press more than two million books have been sold of this series.

There are also Winnie The Witch books by Laura Owen - illustrated as well by Korky Paul.

The series

The first book "Winnie The Witch" was first published in 1987. It was reprinted nine times up until 1997 and re-issued with a new cover in 2006. Now the book is available as a paperback edition with an audio CD, containing the story with music and sound effects. All the other Winnie books are available as paperback editions with audio CDs, too.

Valerie Thomas has worked for many years in education, teaching in schools in Australia and the UK. Korky Paul is an award-winning illustrator of children’s books. In 1986, he illustrated his first book for Oxford University Press, "Winnie the Witch", which won the Children’s Book Award [List of Children's Book Award winners from 1981 - 1989" [http://www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk/past-winners-1981-1989.html] "] in 1988.

The books are often being used by teachers.

Winnie The Witch (1987)

Winnie the witch has a black house. The interior of the house is also black, just like her cat Wilbur. When Wilbur closes his eyes to doze off, he disappears into the background of Winnie's home, and she accidentally tramples him again and again. Therefore Winnie changed Wilbur's color into a bright green. But when he's outside in the grass, the problem recurs. She then waves her wand over him five times and turns him into a five-color cat. Wilbur looks ridiculous and does not like his new look. Winnie does not want her cat to be sad and changes his color back to black, instead she colorizes her house.

Winnie's New Computer (2003)

Winnie has ordered her first computer (which is illustrated like an iMac G4, but instead of an Apple logo it has a pumpkin on its backside) and logs on to the internet. Wilbur however is jealous because Winnie spends so much time with her new computer and doesn't even let him touch "the mouse". Winnie decides to throw away her book of spells and her wand - from now on all her magic will be at the click of a mouse! But when Winnie finally goes to bed, Wilbur finally wants to see what this "new mouse" is all about. The next morning Winnie wakes up to discover she has no cat and no computer. It turns out that she still needs her book of spells from time to time. In the end, she manages to get her computer and Wilbur back and decides to keep her magic wand and her book of spells.

Winnie's Midnight Dragon (2006)

In "Winnie's Midnight Dragon" Winnie and her cat Wilbur wake up around midnight by a strange noise. They get up to realize that a baby dragon is squeezing through Wilbur's cat-flap. The baby dragon just wants to play but unfortunately there are puffs of smoke coming out of his nose and he starts to set Winnie's broomstick on fire. Winnie decides she has to find the dragon's mother but first of all she uses a little magic to turn the smoke into a cloud of butterflies.Now Winnie has her cat and a baby dragon who like to play (because they both like chasing butterflies) whereas she just wants to sleep. She goes onto the roof of her house to look for the dragon baby's mother. She is nowhere to be seen, so by magicking a full moon over her house she catches his mother's attention. With mother and baby dragon reunited, Winnie and Wilbur can finally go back to bed.

Happy Birthday Winnie (2007)

Winnie celebrates her birthday in this sequel. She decides to celebrate a garden party and invides her relatives. She uses all sorts of magic to create a perfect party venue. Unfortunately this Winnie book does not have much of a plot. Instead it has a fold-out picture of the birthday cake which appears due to Winnie's magic. It has many different layers of her guests' most favorite cake flavors.

Winnie's Flying Carpet (2008)

A new sequel, "Winnie's Flying Carpet", is scheduled to be released in October 2008 by Oxford University Press (ISBN: 978-0-19-272857-9). The book will be released as a paperback with CD and as a hardcover edition.

Bibliography

* 1987 Winnie The Witch
* 1996 Winnie in Winter
* 1999 Winnie Flies Again
* 2002 Winnie's Magic Wand
* 2003 Winnie's New Computer
* 2005 Winnie at the Seaside
* 2006 Winnie's Midnight Dragon
* 2007 Happy Birthday Winnie
* 2008 Winnie's Flying Carpet

References

External Links

* [http://www.winnie-the-witch.com/flash.php Official site from Oxford University Press] (flash)

Material for teachers

* [http://www.cornelsen.de/teachweb/1.c.133674.de?hasjs=1214677126&submittedByForm=1&gsid=1.c.131741.de&id=133674 Foreign language learning material (Cornelsen)] (in German)
* [http://www.learn-line.nrw.de/angebote/eps2/Stoll-Bilderbuch.pdf by the NRW Board of Education] (in German)