Member Reviews
Wacky Witches and Their Peculiar Familiars by author and illustrator April Suddendorf is a delightful picture book featuring diverse characters and the animals that they love.
The poems on each page are fun to read, telling a quick story about a certain witch and her less common familiar. The illustrations are lovely and highlight the connection between each witch and her animal companion.
The book is a fun way to learn about animals that sometimes don't get the attention they deserve. And the diverse group of witches are loving to their animals, giving the young reader nothing to fear.
I was pleased to receive an ARC of #WackyWitchesandTheirPeculiarFamiliars from #NetGalley.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.
i thought this book was very charming. This book will be good to read to children that think witches are scary. It can teach them that witches can also be nice. I think this book will be a hit come fall and Halloween season. I thought the illustrations were very well drawn.
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This book is all about witches and their animals! It’s a collection of rhymes showing a variety of witches with different animal companions and the things that they do. I found the rhyme scheme a little bit tricky at times, but overall it was a fun read. I would have loved for the illustrations to be a bit more colorful. This would still be a fun spooky season read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Another great title from this publisher. I’ll have to check out their selections more often. I wonder if they have a reviewer list because these would be so fun to read in print with my daughter.
This is once again a really cute book with great illustrations and a fun story. This one tells us all about the different animals a witch might choose as their companion, from sheep and giraffes to squirrels and worms. The rhymes were fun, though sometimes the rhythm felt a little off, which could’ve been because it was a translation from German, which makes me want to check out the German version as well since I love to read in that language with my daughter. The illustrations were fun because they showed a great variety of witches and there was a lot of fun stuff to point out and find with my daughter.
This book was so fun for my seven year old! She’s Halloween obsessed and adored the entire book! Very fun to read together!
Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the eARC! This is a story about different witches and their animal companions. The author is very creative to incorporate all the different witches and animals throughout the story! I think older children may find this book enjoyable to read!
A really fun book about all things witchy! A collection of silly poems that show a variety of witches doing a wide range of activities. I absolutely adored the illustrations which were quirky and fun and featured a really diverse cast of characters!!
I don't know exactly who this book is for, but I loved it!
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a digital ARC of Wacky Witches and their Peculiar Familiars.
I was disappointed by this book. I initially thought it was going to be cute, but the rhyme scheme was off-putting and it made me want to put the book down immediately. I pressed on and some of the rhymes got better, but I wasn’t thrilled with the illustrations and I wouldn’t recommend this to a friend.
Thank you NorthSouth Books and NetGalley for a digital advanced copy of "Wacky Witches and Their Peculia Familiars" by April Suddendorf, which will be released September 10, 2024! This book would be great to read in October! I really liked that there was diversity with the witches in the book as well as a variety of animals/creatures that kids may not know. The book has some rich vocabulary which would allow kids to learn some new words that they may be unfamilair with as well. I always love when there is some rhyming in a book so I really enjoyed that as well! This would be a great read around Halloween for at home or in the classroom!
I absolutely loved this picture book! It's all about witches and their familiar, some of the weirdest and wackiest familiars, not your usual cat or owl or toad. (Although unlike the author I loved cats as familiars.)
The illustration style reminds me of Lumberjanes, so naturally I adore it!
The rhymes were fun, the cute little details made me giggle, and overall it was a blimey good time to read this picture book!
I love the illustartions! The rhymes are amazing and make this book so fun. I love that each 0ne of the witches is unique and special in their own way. This way many little kids that will read this book can see themselves represented.
Wacky Witches and Their Peculiar Familiars is such a fun book! The witches are a very diverse group including tattoos, an amputee mermaid, a wheelchair user, witches of color, and more. I loved how they all had different hobbies and live in different areas. The rhymes were cute and the illustrations are so charming!
I really liked how many different animals were featured. As a child, I would have loved to learn a little about different critters in a book like this. From dogs to giraffes to snakes and pangolins, there are so many wonderful animals to learn about. I can absolutely see this creating a further interest in learning about these animals (familiars).
Wacky Witches and Their Peculiar Familiars is a cute rhyming picture book. I liked the illustrations, but the colors to me were a little drab. It could use more eye popping colors in my opinion.
As for the characters, there were a number of familiar animals mentioned. But one in particular threw me — a pangolin. Pretty exotic for a children’s picture book. I think that sticking with the tried and true and familiar animals would have been more acceptable, but that’s just me.
Overall, however, Wacky Witches and Their Peculiar Familiars is more than suitable for preschoolers as a storytime book. Three stars.
I was invited to read a DRC from NorthSouth Books through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for my 100th honest review! Thank you for giving me a sense of purpose, bringing me joy and allowing me access to the most amazing books for the past 6 months!!
You never know when you’re going to read a new favorite. I immediately preordered this one after I fiinished reading it. You can tell that a lot of thought and work has been put into this beautiful, fun, diverse, inclusive, creative, quirky, heartwarming and original read!
It’s so hard to review a book that you absolutely loved! I just wanna tell everyone that this was so good and they have to read it!!! But that wouldn’t be a very interesting review.
This little book is about all kinds of different witches, with different needs and interests so of course they don’t all have the same pets. This book shows us in the most fun way (with great rhymes and very detailed illustrations you are going to want to look at for a long time), why every witch in this book has a certain pet and it doesn’t shy away from showing us witches with disabilities too and that each pet has his pros and cons but it stays really positive and heartwarming doing so.
If you like animals, magic and fun, you are going to love this amazing uplifting little book!
Thank you NetGalley and NorthSouth Books for the advance copy of “Wacky Witches and Their Peculiar Familiars” by April Suddendorf. This was a charming picture book with rhyming verse. The pictures were detailed and imaginative, and I’m sure will entertain any child and/or parent reading. The different witches and creatures were diverse and amusing, I’d recommend this book to children who enjoy fantasy and animal stories.
I’m obsessed.
Do I have a child of my own yet? No. Did I add this to my shopping cart for preorder so I have it when I one day do? YES. As a witchy woman myself, I’ll be reading this for fun until I can share it with a little one.
Reading this book was a grand old time! Between the diversity of characters, names, animal species, living styles, etc. this book really took you on an adventure! I loved the illustrations as well. Everything about this book lends well to a fun read for kids AND adults. I also loved the inclusion of more advanced language. Due to the vocabulary, I would recommend this for school age kiddos, but it also uses less common words, which can lead to a great opportunity to expand vocabulary.
Gosh I loved this book.
Thanks NetGalley and NorthSouth Books Inc. for the ARC of this book.
Wide range - the widest! - of witches and their familiars. Witches of colour, witches with tattoos, witches who happen to use wheelchairs, or live under water. Stunning endpapers, glorious illustrations, clever rhymes. Would have been one of my favourites as a toddler. So many animals, and all of them friends!
Apparently the author is Swiss so I'll make sure to check if I can find the German language version somewhere.
The arc was provided by the publisher.
The imaginative illustrations and peculiar companions are by far the highlight of this quirky picture book. An array of modern witches demonstrate how cool and creative witches can be, and ambitious witches-to- be will enjoy exploring the worlds of these magical mavens. But be warned, at times the poetry can be a bit clunky, likely because it is a translation, but the illustrations make it all worth while.
Witches and Poems! How fun! I love this book, and the different poems with each witch. The illustrations are great! I think this could be a great book to help develop and practice early literacy skills like phonological and print awareness.
This book was sweet, my child loved the illustrations, she enjoyed listening to me reading it to her (she’s 2) I thought this book was funny and clever it rhymed nicely, the only thing I’d have to say on the book that is not for me and my child is the last line “and he will always be better than a (bloody) old cat”
That is considered a swear word where I’m from and obviously not appropriate in a children’s book. However to conclude this book was really good overlooking the last line! I did enjoy it