'But is it magic making memories... or are memories making magic?' - from the blurb.
'Witch Hazel' is one of the most unique children's picture books I have ever read. It is about telling stories, and the passage of time; told mostly though pictures.
Stories can be told anywhere, from a front porch, to a music room by a piano.
There's nothing overtly witchy about 'Witch Hazel', no obvious spell casting, but an elderly woman telling of her past to an eager young girl, to keep in her heart forever and learn lessons from the old, is its own kind of wonderful magic. The magic of generations of women, spinning true yarns.
It's an amazing creation. Whimsical and adorable - with the artwork reminiscent of that of 1950s Harvey Comics (think Casper) - and sweet and sad by the end. The cycle of life continues as it always does.
'Witch Hazel' is a lovely darling of a picture book. For its understated witchy regalia of a broom - for sweeping dust from the porch and from a cobwebbed mind - a top hat, and a black cat, its real magic lies in its storytelling power. Memories passed on to the next generation are the true sparkle.
While I wish it were made clearer that the old woman Hazel and the young girl Hilda are grandmother and granddaughter, it doesn't matter much. Their love and devotion to one another is sublimely drawn and presented on every spellbinding page.
What a surprising, bonny and beautiful bustle of memory magic. Like a sad, twinkling fairy tale book of old. 'Witch Hazel' by Molly Idle is something special, to be sure.
Final Score: 4/5
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