Winnie in Winter: Activity Cassette - Paul Shipton

Advantages: great story and illustrations
Disadvantages: none

...My young daughters and I are all very fond of the series of books about Winnie the Witch written by Korky Paul and Valerie Thomas. We first read the original Winnie the Witch book a couple of years ago and since then have added quite a few other books about Winnie to our collection. Our latest addition is Winnie in Winter which is a very enjoyable and funny read. Firstly let me tell you a little bit about Winnie. She is quite an extraordinary witch who has a long pointed nose and wears an array of brightly coloured and bizarre clothing - mainly involving lots of stripes She also has a rather scrawny cat called Wilbur who always goes along with her wacky ideas. They both live in an amazing rambling castle all on their own. In this book, quite obviously, it is winter. But it is very cold and Winnie is fed up with this. Therefore, she... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: fantastic read and gorgeous illustrations
Disadvantages: none

...Winnie the Witch' is a picture book for young children and is written and illustrated by Korky Paul and Valerie Thomas. The story is about Winnie the Witch and her cat Wilbur - my three year old daughter is entranced by both of them! The story is all about the fact that Winnie lives in a house which is totally black and that her cat Wilbur is totally black too! This means that where ever Wilbur is Winnie is unable to see him as he is camouflaged by everything else. Winnie deciders that the only way to solve the problem is to change Wilbur's colour - which she does to green which is great because she can now see Wilbur until he goes outside... She then decides that the solution is to make him multicoloured which upsets Wilbur so much that he climbs the tallest tree and won't come down! Eventually Winnie decides that the solution... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Plenty of humour, great illustrations
Disadvantages: Winnie's garden gets trashed.

...and once again waving it five times along with her shout of 'Abracadabra', the spell is reversed. You can probably guess the reaction of the sunbathing crowds, whilst Winnie and Wilbur realise that winter is not so bad after all, especially when you can keep warm and cosy indoors with a toasted muffin and hot chocolate or a saucer of milk. Korky Paul's illustrations always contribute enormously to the enjoyment of Valerie Thomas's stories centring around Winnie and Wilbur. In Winnie in Winter we see Wilbur struggling through the snow as he stalks a multi-coloured bird trying to drink from the frozen pond, and a strange array of yawning birds, reptiles and mammals that have been rudely awoken from their winter slumbers. The sunworshippers look a little like a section of the crowd from Glastonbury festival (without the mud), and there even... Read review

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