Whispering to Witches

by Anna Dale

Overview

A short holiday with his mother turns out very differently for Joe than he could have imagined when he left home. Soon he is embroiled in a world of witchcraft, a world where the kind and innocent witches of Britain are facing a wicked foe.

Can Joe and his young friend Twiggy put an end to the cunning plot, or will they, like their witchy friends, find the baffling mystery too hard to solve?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781408818671
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	12/20/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
Lexile:	750L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	9 - 11 Years

About the Author

This is Anna Dale's first book for Bloomsbury. It has sold in twenty-five languages. Anna Dale lives in Southampton.
Anna Dale's first book, Whispering to Witches, sold in twenty-five languages. She has since written Dawn Undercover, Spellbound and Magical Mischief. Anna lives in Southampton.

Editorial Reviews

"Dale makes a sparkling debut with this sprightly novel introducing a 12-year-old who inadvertently becomes tangled in a web of dueling witches," PW wrote. Ages 8-12. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 5-7-When his father is called away at Christmas, Joe resigns himself to spending the holiday in Canterbury with his mother, stepdad, and seven-year-old half sister, Esme. After a train ride leaves him stranded at the wrong station, he borrows a large tricycle that seems to have a will of its own. It transports him to the ramshackle headquarters of the somewhat disreputable Dead-nettle Coven. The witch world is in an uproar over the theft of the world's most dangerous spell, and, apparently, somebody thinks that Joe has it. When Esme is kidnapped, he and young witch Twiggy are drawn into the hunt for the missing hex and uncover a plot to destroy the Earth's entire witch population. The incongruous chief villain is a bun-sporting librarian-whose first line actually is "Shh." All the expected fantasy elements are here-a secret, arcane culture coexisting with the mortal sphere, rhymed spells, and magic users with more-or-less good-natured disdain for mortals. The narration relies heavily on flashbacks and expositional dialogue. The settings, both real and fanciful, are convincingly portrayed. There are some mildly humorous touches, but some plot elements don't seem to mesh completely. Joe's discomfort with his second family is emphasized at the beginning, but it plays little role in the action and remains unresolved at the end. Diane Duane's "Young Wizards" series (Harcourt) and Jill Murphy's "Worst Witch" books (Candlewick) have more fully realized magical worlds.-Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Joe Binks is not born a witch, but the "insignificant schoolboy" manages to end up in a coven anyway. It's his father's fault, really, for sending him off at the last minute to his mother's house for Christmas. On the unpleasantly eventful train trip from London to Canterbury, Joe finds himself embroiled in a treacherous plot involving a glamorous, crimson-lipped woman with a basket of glowing-eyed creatures and with a mysterious viper doodled on his suitcase. Add a terrifying ride through the countryside on a large orange bewitched tricycle, a headlong plunge into the aforementioned coven, a blossoming friendship with a young witch-in-training named Twiggy, and the troubling mystery of the missing, potentially-perilous-if-located page 513 in the revered witch manual Mabel's Book, and the ingredients for an action adventure are complete. Plenty of potions (Lingo Liquorice for talking to animals!) and plot twists keep the story buoyant, and abundant acts of selfless bravery contribute a sweet, uplifting quality that distinguishes this lightning-quick broomstick ride, British-style. (Fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews

"Tightly plotted and with enough twists and turns to keep readers on their toes."

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