Best Witches
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. In this collection of poems I got to write a bunch of strange, funny, and sentimental Halloween poems. I even got to use one I had written way back in college (the ivy climbing the wall poem.) The editor told me that Elise Primavera wore a witch hat while illustrating the book. I love her joyous, cranky, silly, wonderful art. I wish the book were still in print, or in a paperback edition, but individual poems still get reprinted.
What reviewers have said:
- “Bewitching collection for young sprites and older tricksters.”–Booklist
- “A hilarious volume celebrating the variety of bizarre witchescavorting about on October 31.”–Boston Sunday Globe
- “Colorful comic scenes aptly convey the lighthearted tone of these often humorous verses. “–Horn Book
- There’s a nice control of form, meter, rhyme, and scansion in this collection; there are moments of spine-chill that middle-grades will enjoy.. . . a humor that has verve and sophistication but is never inaccessible. . . The ebullience of Yolen’s poetry is matched by that of Primavera’s paintings, which are colorful but pleasantly gruesome, with a great deal of vitality and antic humor.”–Bulletin of the Center of Children’s Books
- “Yolen has concocted a delightful volumn of 21 poems that introduce witches and spectres of all types. . .Many of her poems are the humorous upbeat sort that attract young readers like magic.: –School Library Journal