Young Reader Reaction: Our daughter laughed with almost every spell. She wanted to be able to turn the air into cotton candy and eat a field full of pizza. We read this one several times.

Adult Reader Reaction: This is a fun story, and not completely predictable. Mitzi and Muffletump have lots of personality. The illustrator does a wonderful job giving the cousins style - I loved the swim goggles on Mitzi!

Pros: Two sassy witches and some cute spells create a book that is fun to read out loud together. The story is presented in conversation, so it can double as an easy reader.

To read our full review, go to The Reading Tub®.

Told in rhyming verse, City Witch, Country Switch is a witchy re-interpretation of the classic Aesopic fable, The City Mouse and the Country Mouse, in which two rodents see how "the other half" lives. In Wendy Wax's story, however, it is two witch cousins - country-bred Muffletump and city-slicker Mitzi - who visit one another, before making the inevitable discovery that they prefer life at home. A happy "compromise" is reached, however, through the use of the "Far-No-More" spell, allowing them each to stay where they are, and to also be neighbors.

I was really quite surprised to see the almost universal praise heaped upon this title, in the online reviews I've been reading, as I myself found it a mostly mediocre offering. The story didn't really involve me, the rhyme scheme felt forced, and the illustrations by Scott Gibala-Broxholm were unappealing. Young readers with a strong interest in witchy tales might still find this interesting, but with so many superior examples of the genre out there - Arthur Howard's Hoodwinked, for example, or Valerie Thomas' Winnie the Witch - I wouldn't recommend going to any great lengths to obtain it. ( )

This was a very cute book that showed even people that are very different can be friends. The two witches lived very different lives with one living in the city and one living in the country. This book has cute rhyming and definitely easy to keep the attention of children.

This book was a cute holiday themed book that used alot of quirky rhyming. It's purpose is to show differences between city life and country living, while also showing that people from different places can become great friends. ( )

This book is about Mitzi and Muffletump, two witches that are cousins. One lives in the city while the other one lives in the country. The story explains the problems the witch from the country has when she visits her cousin in the city. The city is noise, the air is dirty, the crowded subway. So Muffetump gets rather crafty when it comes to fixing the problem. Then when Muffletump decide to go home, Mitzi decides to go to her house for a visit. And she too has some problems. Leaky roof, slime pond and having allergies to the country air. In the end they both find a way to compromise, so they can be together and are happy.

The four year old only liked the part where they were witches and how they solved there problems using magic. So all day all I heard was I wish I was a witch. I would get make money to buy this or that. Or I wish I could make ice cream. So I ran with the idea.

My first project was for them to color a picture of the things they would change if they had the powers of a witch. Or things they would want if they had powers of a witch. Then I had them second, draw a picture of just one thing on that list that was the most important for you to have. Kind of letting them compromise on there own. But was a fun project for the kids to do. ( )