Witch’s Broom

Ruth Chew's Witch's Broom is a magical adventure for 8 year olds about a little blue broom that would much rather fly than sweep.

What happens

Amy's mum finds a little broom lying in the back garden in Brooklyn. Nobody on the street knows where it came from. It's very pretty, with a wooden handle and bright blue bristles, and it's hopeless at sweeping. The bristles go all floppy the moment Amy tries to use it.

Then it yanks her friend Jean in from the garden and across the kitchen floor. It can fly!

It takes the girls a while to work out how to ride it (they've been holding it upside down, which it does NOT appreciate). Once that's sorted, the broom gets a name, Wispy, and it turns out she has a personality all of her own. She sulks. She plays hide and seek. She hates getting wet. And she'd quite like to sleep in Amy's bed, thank you very much.

Then there's the bluejay. A strangely tame bird keeps hanging round the garden, pecking at the girls' picnic and trying very hard to get into the house. Amy's mum can't stand it. Wispy seems scared of it. Jean thinks there's something spooky going on. Is she right? Your reader will want to find out.

The lovely thing about this one is how ordinary everything is around the magic. It's the summer holidays and Amy's parents are at work. The girls make peanut butter sandwiches and fill the bird feeder. Then they climb on a broom and fly over the harbour, or end up soggy on the Staten Island ferry.

One night Wispy carries Amy out of her bedroom window, over the rooftops and into a mountain cave full of witches. It's a little bit spooky, with a bubbling pot and a very cross old witch calling the register. Amy only watches from a ledge, though, and she's home safely before morning. There's also a tense moment when the neighbours' cat catches the bluejay (she recovers).

If you've got a reader who dreams about finding something magic in an everyday place, this is a gentle, funny one to try. Amy and Jean are a warm pair of friends, and a broom with opinions is very good company.

What to read next

If they're after another broom that won't behave, try The Worst Witch. Mildred Hubble is in her first year at witch school, and her broomstick has been mended with glue and sticky tape after she crashed it into a wall.