This book is about a witches' numerous sly attempts to get David and his mother to give her one of their delicious cakes. The witch tries many different tactics to try to trick David, such as posing as a award winning cake taster, pretending to faint, and having a great cake contest. This story is very cute and the illustrations are beautiful. It also teaches a lesson on kindness, as David eventually gives the witch a cake despite her trickery. I would definitely recommend this to children ages K-3. ( )

David and his mother, busy making cakes one damp rainy day, find themselves besieged by a hungry witch in this picture-book from beloved New Zealand children's author Margaret Mahy. Attracted by the "warm and friendly smell" of their baking, the witch settles in their cherry tree, and tries every stratagem she can think of, from masquerading as a cake testing expert to setting up a cake contest on their lawn, to lure David and his mother - together with their cakes! - out of the house. Although he evades her at every turn, David is still sympathetic, and eventually gives the witch some of mini cakes he has burnt. Just the way a witch likes her cakes!

I enjoyed The Witch in the Cherry Tree, less as a witchy tale per se - although I did like some of the witchy details here, like the fact that witches can't enter the home without being invited in (I thought that was vampires?!?), or that their baking skills have deteriorated because they spend so much time cooking up other kinds of brews - than as a family story about a son and his mother. I liked David's calm but loving mother immensely, and I liked the fact that, in this story from 1974, he is blithely assisting his mother with the baking, and it is not treated as anything particularly noteworthy. The artwork is cute, in a vintage 70s/80s kind of style, and the story amusing. Not quite up to some of Mahy's more brilliant efforts, like Bubble Trouble and The Boy Who Was Followed Home, it is still well worth reading. ( )