Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest

by Phoebe Wahl

Overview

An earthy and beautiful collection of four stories that celebrate the seasons, nature, and life, from award-winning author-illustrator Phoebe Wahl.

Little Witch Hazel is a tiny witch who lives in the forest, helping creatures big and small. She's a midwife, an intrepid explorer, a hard worker and a kind friend.

In this four-season volume, Little Witch Hazel rescues an orphaned egg, goes sailing on a raft, solves the mystery of a haunted stump and makes house calls to fellow forest dwellers. But when Little Witch Hazel needs help herself, will she get it in time?

Little Witch Hazel is a beautiful ode to nature, friendship, wild things and the seasons that only Phoebe Wahl could create: an instant classic and a book that readers will pore over time and time again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735264908
Publisher:	Tundra
Publication date:	09/21/2021
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	90
Sales rank:	869,392
File size:	82 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

PHOEBE WAHL's work focuses on themes of comfort, nostalgia and intimacy with nature. She grew up unschooled in Washington State, and credits her free spirited childhood in the Northwest for much of her inspiration and work ethic. She works in a variety of mediums, from watercolor and collage to fabric sculpture. Phoebe graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Illustration and currently lives in Bellingham, Washington. She is the award-winning author and illustrator of Sonya's Chickens, Backyard Fairies and The Blue House.

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/05/2021

In four tales that follow the seasons, Little Witch Hazel, who has light brown skin and wears a pointed red cap, serves as her woodland community’s conscientious caretaker. Working with woodblock-like illustrations in a palette of greens, blues, and reds, Wahl (The Blue House) conjures a cozy world of forest creatures living in overgrown thickets amid twisting vines. In the spring, Little Witch Hazel finds an orphaned egg and cares for the “poof of a bird” that emerges. On a summer day with many errands to run, she finds that everyone else is relaxing, and she’s persuaded to join them: “All she had to do was sit, and listen, and breathe in the fragrant summer air.” In autumn, a mysterious cry from a hollow stump frightens everyone, and only Little Witch Hazel is brave enough to investigate. And in winter, Little Witch Hazel is caught in a blizzard after a day of doctoring. A thread of loving and nurturing emerges through this treasury of quiet adventures—no creature in the forest is too small to escape Little Witch Hazel’s attention, and readers will find satisfaction in seeing the way her sturdy care succors her community and results in gentle reciprocation. Ages 4–8. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

A BookPage "Best Picture Book of 2021"
A Chicago Public Library Best Fiction for Younger Readers (2021)
A BookRiot Best Children’s Book of 2021
A Booklist Top of the List Book Pick (2021)
A New York Public Library "Feminist Read for Little Ones"

"The writing is lush and lyrical, and the textured, earth-toned illustrations expertly capture Hazel’s world, both cozy and gloriously wild . . . More Mosswood, please." —STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews

"A thread of loving and nurturing emerges through this treasury of quiet adventures . . . and readers will find satisfaction in seeing the way [Little Witch Hazel's] sturdy care succors her community and results in gentle reciprocation." —STARRED REVIEW, Publishers Weekly

"The quiet but insistent rejection of conventional norms is both cheerworthy and effortlessly integrated, and the result is a story that can sit happily next to any classic fairy story as well as contemporary picture books directly addressing physical differences." —STARRED REVIEW, Booklist

"Little Witch Hazel feels like the kind of book every children’s author wishes that they could write, yet so few are capable of creating themselves. . . . In the end, it’s just one of the best books of the year." —Betsy Bird, School Library Journal

"These sweet stories are an ode to the calm and peaceful magic of nature. Little Witch Hazel will make you feel as if you have journeyed deep into Mosswood Forest alongside Hazel and her friends." —BookPage

"I love this book fiercely. . . . It is such a magnificent book, and I hope we get to read even more one day about this character and her world." —7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast

"The heart of this story is a simplistic, community-oriented life, filled with little adages for everyday life and living. People of all ages will find this book charming and heart-warming." —Yakima Herald

"Little Witch Hazel . . . will strike a chord with readers of all ages." —CM: Canadian Review of Materials

From the Publisher

★ 2021-06-29
A miniature witch tends to a forest over the course of a year.

Little Witch Hazel lives in Mosswood Forest in a home at the base of a tree trunk. Her distinctive personality is fleshed out vividly throughout this thoroughly satisfying set of four stories, one for each season. Stoic, diligent, and giving, Hazel nurtures an orphaned owl egg in spring; is convinced by friends to take a day off in summer; helps a lonely troll in autumn; and is saved from a storm in winter by Otis, the owl she once mothered. The detailed, evocative worldbuilding will have readers lingering. They’ll meet a friendly and funny (especially the chipmunk with the toothache) community of anthropomorphic creatures, such as Wendell the sailing frog and Mousepappa (who wears the apron and takes care of the babies). Many creatures are fantastical (dryads, goblins). Refreshingly, nothing is sanitized: Little Witch Hazel is not gaunt and whimsical; she’s curvaceous, sturdy, and strong. She even has hairy legs; she has more important things to do than shave, such as serve as midwife to Mrs. Rabbit. The writing is lush and lyrical (“milky clouds…hung low”), and the textured, earth-toned illustrations expertly capture Hazel’s world, both cozy (her tiny home) and gloriously wild (the forest she tends to). Hazel is White; the “beasts of all shapes and sizes” readers meet include fantastical creatures of color and one who uses a wheelchair. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

More Mosswood, please. (Picture book. 4-10)

Kirkus Reviews