Diary of Anna the Girl Witch by Max Candee, Vic Connor

284 Pages
Publisher: Helvetic House, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members’ Titles
Release Date: January 1, 2016

Fiction, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Young Adult, Teens, Orphans

Anna Sophia is an orphan. She was found in a Russian bear cave by Uncle Misha. He raised her until she needed to attend school. She then went to live at the orphanage and attended a private school in Geneva. The neighbors Andre and Marie live in a castle and having been adopting girls from the school to be companions for their daughter Candance.

When she turns 13, the orphanage throws a party. Later that night, her attorney, Monsieur Nolan brings her a secret package. It is a letter from her mother with a page torn out of a book and a human sized hand named Squire. Something feels off to Anna Sophia about the couple and their bossy daughter. She uses her newly found powers to investigate but it is worse than she thought.

The story is fast paced, the characters are somewhat developed, and it is written in the first-person point of view. This was originally the first in the Foundling Series but there is a prequel now, so it is listed as the second in the series. This would be a great chapter book for middle grade children.

I received this ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Ive read this book a few times now and I still like it, I'm looking forward to reading more from this author

Diary of Anna and the girl witch by Vic Connor.
Book 1 of foundling witch.
What do you do when you discover you’re a witch?
And that using your new powers destroys your soul a little each time?
A great read with good characters. I loved the pictures in the book. 4*.

The cover of this book is gorgeous and I really liked the main character. The story was a bit too rushed for me.

I'm sorry, but I couldn't get into this book. I didn't leave reviews as I dislike leaving negative feedback/ negative reviews.

Thank you Netgalley for this review copy.

I liked the whole suspense of this book and the fact that when the main character, Anna, was lost you were right with her. The other characters were a little dull apart from the sisters that ran the orphanage. If I was a young teenager, however, this would have been right up my alley. I also like the fact that it has follow up books and left on a cliffhanger. The illustrations were pretty good too.

This review is according to my 13 yo daughter, who read it.. This book was OK, it took me a while to get into it though. I think it would better for younger kids.

This book is a great read for children and adults alike! Anna Sophia Medvedeva is an orphaned girl who knows she's not like other girls. She doesn't know how...just has a feeling. She starts having unexplained abilities and for any person not used to them, can be frightening. Anna receives a letter from her mother that explains to her, what is happening and it's up to her to decide how she uses that knowledge. With that knowledge of finding out she's a witch, Anna has to make certain decisions that could lead her down a dark path she can never recover from.
I adored this story and will recommend to all fantasy lovers.

Early teen audience I think for this. It's a great story, well told and well drawn characters for the most part. This is book 1 so there are plot lines yet to unfold. I did sometimes have to mentally check Anna Sophia's age, as there are points where she comes across more like 16 than just turned 13, as does Jean Sebastian as Rescuer. That said it is an age where adolescents fluctuate between child and adult states. So this might be deliberate and very clever characterisation by the author. There's no moralising (hurrah!) and nothing inappropriate for a younger audience. Definitely one to consider if your kids like Fantasy (and if you do too!).

Fun read perfect for middle-grade kids who love magic and fantastic worlds.

Very interesting read - I'll definitely be keeping an eye out in the future for more books by Max Candee

Anna the Girl Witch, by Max Candee is an interesting weaving of fiction and folklore. Although it had a slow start, the mystery surrounding Irvigne Manor and Anna's heritage drew me in. As an orphan, Anna never knew her parents but instead was raised by Uncle Misha and Mama Bear in the Russian wilderness. On her thirteenth birthday, Anna is about to discover that not only is she not an orphan, but her family is more than a little bit strange. 

An Unusual Sidekick

Samwise Gamgee and Hermione have nothing on Squire.  Sure, they may be loyal, but can they fit into a backpack? One of my favourite characters in this book was Squire, a disembodied hand. Maybe it's the fact that for a "sidekick" character, a hand is unusual, but I also felt that the author still manages to infuse such warmth into his character without actually showing any facial expressions or body language other than bobbing and tickling. I think what I liked about Squire was that despite his macabre appearance, he isn't scary or evil. He's just...unusual. 

A Sneaking Suspicion

The best part of any children's book (I think) is the sneaking around that occurs as the story progresses and this book was no exception. Whether she was sneaking out to the forest to light a candle and discover more about her family or tip-toeing around the expansive orphanage in Geneva, Anna seems to always find a way to duck the rules and in the process, she takes the readers with her. 

A Complex Character

Throughout the book, Anna struggles to uncover who she really is (other than being a witch, of course). While she ultimately discovers that there is a little bit of good and not-so-good in everyone, I thought that the portrayal of her struggle was honest. There were several times where Anna has impulses to do things that aren't so heroic, but I think that her role models --Anne Frank and Malala Yousafzai -- tempers her development and gives the reader a deeper understanding of who Anna is becoming. 

If you love a good middle-grade mystery with some supernatural intrigue, then be sure to pick up Diary of Anna the Girl Witch! 

What are your favourite supernatural sidekicks?

I found the book delightfully charming. It's a perfect YA coming of age story. It had all the right components and just enough mystery to draw me in.

It reminded me that children's books tend to have black and white, good and bad clearly delineated. She has powers that she doesn't understand but has to learn to use by basically being thrown in the deep end. I picked up the next two books because I'm very excited to learn what comes next.

This book was a little bit simplistic for me personally, but I know I'm not the target audience and I think that it would be very enjoyable for middle grade kids. I thought Anna was a great character and I liked how she always wanted to be kind, but not at the expense of being taken advantage of or letting other people get hurt. I liked that she kept a diary because she had read about Anne Frank in school even though that's kind of an over-used trope. But it was still nice and the author kind of updated it a bit because Anna had also read about Malala Yousafzai so there were quotes from her throughout the book as well. It was great that Anna had found role models in these two young girls and I think it sends a great message to the young girls reading this book as well. Definitely a fun story for kids who like witches, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to other adults like me who are trying to find other middle grade series to read in between Rick Riordan's release dates ;)

This is cozy witch book. I enjoyed reading it. I am glad I got a chance to read this book.

All characters were good. I loved her uncle Misha and the life he was living. Anna was really amazing. I loved her both good side and bad side. How she handled them and try to understand the balance between good and evil within her in this book. Another thing I liked about her character was, she was not whiny or despondent on discovering of her being a witch. Of course she was scared but nothing was overly done.

The twists were good. It appeared when I was not expecting. I loved the storyline from the very beginning. Story of her birth was really unique and amusing that made this story different from other witch books. I liked the concept of including Anne frank and Malala Yousafzai as a role models of character in this book. Diary Anna was writing in this novel, I enjoyed reading that part the most. Have I mentioned illustrations in the book? They were nice drawings with highlighted main objects in it. I loved them.

Moral behind the story of being kind and there is always good and bad sides in every person, it depends on which side you are feeding. It’s really beautifully written in this book.
I would love to read next two books of the series, “Wandering Witch” and “Fighting Witch”.

Overall, it’s fun, entertaining, cozy, fast paced book.

Excellent. Liked the characters and story flow. Liked the mystery and fantasy. Recommend reading!