Peter Utton

Jennifer's room tells the story of a young girl who goes on an amazing adventure without leaving her bedroom after she reads a book. The author starts the story off by Jennifer reading a book, but then her imagination takes over. She imagines 'pink elephants' and 'great palm trees' , that grow in the middle of her room. The author utilized ellipses to create anticipation for what was she was going to imagine next. The artwork that is depicted uses bright colors painted by watercolor, and really shows her imagination taking over her bedroom. The overall theme of the book is reading can take you on wild adventures, and it can fuel your imagination even when you aren't physically reading a book.… (mais)

Jennifer’s Room is a wonderfully written story about a little girl and her imaginary adventure that takes place in her room. I love how things began to change little by little. It all started when she dropped her picture book that was balanced on her favorite chair. From that moment on, everything began to change. Everything from her drawling of her best friend changing to her best blue pencil shivered, turned green, to her favorite chair changing into an old baggy elephant. This story is perfect to lighten the mood of students when they have had a long day. It is a light and funny story that will have the students intrigued to what is happening. Peter Utton did a wonderful job writing and illustrating this picture book.… (mais)

When George sees a "horrible, brown, crinkly thing" pinned to the wall of his father's studio, his questions about it elicit a spooky tale of a witch's visit, and his parents' battle against her. Waking in the middle of the night, his father tells him, to a "slither-slither-pat-pat-cackle-cackle," he follows the sound into George and his brother's bedroom, where he discovers a horrifically ugly witch about to stuff them into a dirty sack. Challenging this magical intruder, the father is almost overcome, until Mummy arrives on the scene with a sword - the one in the broom cupboard - that allows him to triumph, cutting off the witch's hand, which is then pinned to his wall as a reminder to lock the doors at night. Of course, when the boy inquires as to the truth of this tale, his father's response reveals a different story...

I greatly enjoyed this witchy picture-book from British author/artist Peter Utton, finding both story and illustrations immensely appealing. It isn't every book that can manage to be both spooky and humorous (the sword being found in the broom cupboard, of course!), but The Witch's Hand does so with aplomb. The language itself, as seen from the brief snippets quoted above, is intensely descriptive, evoking the sounds and sights of the tale. The artwork - done in watercolor, I believe, although there is no note to that effect on the colophon (something I miss, when reading European picture-books, as their American cousins do tend to provide that information) - is quite brilliant, particularly in the depiction of the witch. The two-page spread in which she confronts the father, her cloak swept around her, her pale greenish eyes flashing, is truly magnificent, capturing the movement of the scene. and the intruder's menace. All in all, a brilliant book! My only quibble is that the conclusion of the tale, in which George learns that the "hand" is really a withered brown leaf, feels like a bit of a letdown. Leaving that aside, this is one I would recommend wholeheartedly to children who enjoy spooky tales. Who knows? They may find the conclusion a reassurance, after the scare, rather than a disappointment.… (mais)