Description: A spellbinding collection of 20 original spooky tales that reimagine witches from folklore, myth, and history. Read them before bedtime or share them to spook your friends--if you dare!
"Deliciously terrifying."--Kirkus Reviews "A gleefully spooky anthology....good for anyone young or old wanting new takes on scary stories that can be shared around a campfire, in the dead of night, or before bedtime....holds readers captive in both words and imagery." --School Library Journal A girl receives a Christmas gift far worse than coal. A strange sideshow lures in new recruits. A birthday party turns into a grisly scavenger hunt. A werewolf stalks a ghostly graveyard. A train ride proves quite deadly. These stories are as enchanting as they are eerie, shining a light on the magical world of these legendary witches. Features stories inspired by Baba Yaga, Marie Laveau, Circe, the Salem Witch Trials, La Lechuza, and more, all brought to life through gorgeous full-color illustrations. More Accolades "Enchanting illustrations accompany each story, highlighting uncanny moments of contact between the magical and mundane worlds....And following each story, a description of the mythological or folkloric witch that served as inspiration is included....In the imaginative short story collection A Coven of Witches, witches from folklore are fleshed out in fresh settings."--Foreword ReviewsBrief description: Alexis Powell holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a Certificate in Publishing from the Denver Publishing Institute. She is a bookseller at The King's English Bookshop, a co-executive editor at the literary magazine The Quiet Ones, and editorial associate at Torrey House Press. She lives in Salt Lake City with her partner, copious amounts of plants, and an adorable pet snake named Sycamore.
Review Quotes: Twenty original short tales inspired by witchy women from history, mythology, and world folklore.
"Magic," the author writes, "is everywhere you dare to look, and sometimes the dark wood is the most fun place to be." Proving herself equally adept at crafting tales that will leave readers hiding under their beds at night or only slightly discomfited, even amused, Powell offers entries that draw mostly upon European sources, but also include figures from places like Ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica. Some of her characterizations are sympathetic; in "Gone Hog Wild," for example, a substitute teacher follows the lead of the Odyssey's Circe by turning an out-of-control class of fifth graders into swine. On the other hand, her riff on Baba Yaga is a dream collector who pokes needles into the foreheads of sleeping children. In "Night Train," an entry based on tales of a seven-headed Kazakh blood drinker, young Emir meets a witch sporting the torn-off face of his little brother, Mo, concealed beneath her hat. As the author cogently argues in her introduction, accused witches were those stigmatized for belonging to "vulnerable groups like women, people of color, those with disabilities, and those with any other differences." Brief contextual notes follow each story. From the glow-in-the-dark cover on, Vidal's lurid depictions of body parts, creepy creatures, and shadowy human figures add suitably eldritch notes. Gross and funny bits provide occasional relief, but deliciously terrifying overall.-- "Kirkus Reviews"