Amanda, a "friendly old witch" who lived up in the hills, and deep in the forest, decided one beautiful day that she wanted to do something particularly nice. Making the flowers grow, teaching the beavers how to dance and the trees how to sing, was all very well, but when she spied a toad sitting on a rock, she knew she'd found the perfect outlet for her well-intentioned munificence. Unfortunately, the three wishes she granted her batrachian beneficiary allowed him to transform himself into a witch - complete with magical powers that he promptly misused - and Amanda into a toad! Would everything be set right, or would the new toad-witch wreak havoc in the forest...?

Although it had a promising enough premise, with its tale of a witch and a toad who switch places, somehow Amanda and the Witch Switch just didn't appeal to me as much as I'd expected, when I found it in my library database, and put in a request for it. The text itself is rather lackluster - there's nothing wrong with it, but there's nothing especially memorable about it, either - and the illustrations, although bright and colorful, weren't really to my taste. These things vary, of course, so young readers who enjoy witchy tales, and more cartoon-like artwork, might feel differently. I have a soft spot for witchy tales (and a completist bent), so I might still pick up the sequel to this, Amanda and the Magic Garden, but then again, I might not. Recommended primarily to those who just can't get enough witches in their reading diet. But for those who only have time for one or two stories, I recommend something like Winnie the Witch or The Curious Little Witch instead. ( )

In this funny, brightly illustrated tale, Himmelman's troublemaking witch Amanda grants a toad three wishes, but never expects him to use them so creatively and he uses one of the wishes to become a witch.