When I saw that Ursula Vernon had listed Ibbotson as an influence, well, I had to check them out. Super extra specially pleased I did. It's a different sort of writing than much of Vernon's, but the same mix of good cheer and cleverness applied to deserving characters.

I particularly like Ibbotson's mad takes on ethics which show up exceptionally well here. ( )

Vegetarian friendly. ?á
I know children aren't innocent these days, and that it's good to talk about things, not hide them, but gosh: in an effort to make sure that only truly wicked people got transformed into innocent animals, Ibbotson talks about a lot of evil that I did not know about when I was the target age of this book. ?áI would not have wanted to know about elder abuse and white supremacists, for example, at age 9. ?áHawkes' work here is also unappealing and unnecessary. ( )

This is the poorest work by Ibbotson that I have read. Her writing can be so enjoyable, that this book was a big disapointment A who cares plot and lackluster characters sink this from the beginning. I never found myself caring for any of the characters. The witches have their powers but no personality. The villians came from Bad Guys-R-Us. The mortal children don't do anything to forward the story. Even the fantastic familiar the witch creates is not to fantastic. An all around poor showing. ( )

This book is about a witch named Heckie who has the abiltiy to change people into animals. With the help of a child named Daniel, her familiar and a group of witchs and wizards in her town, she decides to rid the town of any evil people by turning them into animals. I really enjoyed this book. I found the plot of the story to be very creative and i liked the way the story flowed. The characters were very funny and i liked how some of the characters developed as the story went on. ( )

I must admit, the reason why I found myself being attracted to this book was the illustration on the front cover. Who wouldn't be curious about somebody carrying a dressed pig?

The story is about two witches, Dora and Heckie, who happened to be bestfriends since they attended the school of magic, only to fall out over a pair of identical hats, (which are made from real live snakes). Nevertheless, both of these witches continue trying to go good in the world by punishing bad people. The plots are fast moving but leaning more to the adventures of Heckie, who has this wonderful dragworm as a familiar and young children as friends, one particularly she loved dearly as he was her very own son.

As much as the characters grabbed you in their fast moving plots, I rather find it pretty short. The last plot was kind of catchy and full of suspense, since it involved a man named Lionel Knacksap, who exploited Heckie into doing whatever he wanted her to do, you would pretty much would like to read the ending for this particular plot. However, I pretty much enjoy the book as something to past the time with. ( )