*Review* Karen's Witch by Ann M. Martin

Photo Credit: Goodreads

Genre: Children's

Published: January 1, 1988

Pages: 97

Ages: 4-8

Synopsis

Karen lives next door to an old lady named Mrs. Porter. Mrs. Porter wears long black robes and has wild grey hair. Her black cat is named Midnight. No wonder Karen thinks Mrs. Porter is a witch!

Mrs. Porter is having a meeting at her house. Karen is sure the meeting is for witches.

Are the witches going to cast a spell on Karen? Or will she be brave enough to send them away - once and for all? 

Review

The Babysitter's Little Sister series was one of my favorite series as a kid and I re-read them every summer (for at least three years which seems like a lot when you're 8). I recently found several of them at my local thrift store and bought them all (in the hopes that one or both of my children will enjoy them as well.) Since I needed to read a book from my childhood for the Popsugar reading challenge, I figured I'd start at the beginning.

Reading this book as an adult, I'm not sure why I loved it so much as a child, and I honestly don't remember. I suspect it may be that it was relatively easy to read, but it might also be because I wanted to be Karen. Honestly, the series makes divorce sound like an amazing thing for children. You get two Thanksgivings, two Christmases, etc. and what's not to love about that? As an adult, I think that actually does a huge disservice to all the kids whose parents don't have an amicable divorce though.

I suppose the story was relatively interesting on a seven year old's level. It has the added benefit of being about a witch, so it's appropriate for Halloween. It didn't really keep my attention this time around, but it wasn't really designed to either. 

Overall I give it 4 out of 5 stars because it still makes me feel nostalgic. - Katie 

Buy the Book

Amazon

About the Author

Ann M. Martin is the bestselling author of the momentous series The Baby-sitters Club, as well as the Main Street series. Her other acclaimed novels include "A Dog's Life," "Belle Teal," "Here Today," and the Newbery Honor Book "A Corner of the Universe." She lives in upstate New York. For more information, visit www.scholastic.com/bsc.

Challenges

I used Karen's Witch to fulfill my 1 book re-read for the book bingo challenge since I did read this book as a child. 

For the Popsugar reading challenge I used it to fulfill the Book from my Childhood requirement (again, because I read it as a child.)

Other categories it could fulfill include

A funny book

A book by a female author

A mystery or thriller (for children of course)

A book I can finish in a day (I didn't this time around, but I have in the past)