Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Santoro transports readers (via flying bus) to Miss Thornapple's school, following a group of young witches through a year's worth of classes. This rhyming tale is anything but frightening-even scenes filled with cobwebs and lightning are brightened by color and smiling girls in matching school uniforms (including pointy hats). Santoro often stretches to make his rhymes work ("Sometimes they explore the haunted old forest./ It's creepy enough to delight any tourist"), though the details of the school, from swimming in a swamp to learning the physics behind broom flight, should tickle readers. Ages 4-7. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-In rhyming couplets, Santoro presents Miss Thornapple's School for Witches. The girls are seen as they prepare for the journey ("Packing is simple,/it's done just like that./The trick is to get all your things in your hat"), travel by flying bus, and then engage in such activities as dining on eyeballs and tentacles, being able to swim in a swamp, and learning the physics behind flying broomsticks. The rhymes often seem forced ("Miss Zorch is their teacher in chemistry class,/which for a witch is important to pass"), making this an awkward read-aloud. Santoro's background as an animator is evident in both the perspectives and in the rather flat quality of the art, which resembles still shots from cartoons. Better stories about witches and about school abound.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Miss Thornapple's School for Witches teaches everything that good witches need to know, from the physics of a broom in flight to the chemistry of potions. Some of the story's elements are overly familiar (e.g., traveling to school on a flying bus), and the text's couplets include a few awkward rhymes. Retro cartoonlike illustrations are sometimes effective, sometimes garish. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Madeline goes to Hogwarts in limping doggerel. A flying bus picks up all the aspiring witches to take them to Thornapple School for the year; fun ensues. With a vertical line and palette that ever so vaguely suggest Bemelmans's beloved classics and such tried-and-true details as teachers with funny names (Miss Zorch for chemistry; Miss Glonk for phys ed) and portraits of famous witches past on the walls, his inspirations are clear. But his verse does not begin to approach passible: "Mathematics and physics can often apply / In finding out how magic broomsticks can fly. / Singing is fun, they're determined to reach / The highest of notes, they're the best ones to screech." With little characterization among the student witches and no story beyond the description of school hijinks, this is one to leave behind. (Picture book. 5-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
