Review - Lulu Goes to Witch School

Lulu Goes to Witch School (Lulu the Witch #1)
by Jane O'Connor
illustrated by Bella Sinclair
Date: 1987
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 48
Format: hardcover
Source: library

Jane O’Connor’s classic story for beginning readers Lulu Goes to Witch School has been given fresh illustrations by Bella Sinclair in this beautiful new edition.

Lulu the witch girl is a little nervous about her first day of school, but she heads off with her broom and Dracula lunch box. She immediately loves pretty new teacher, Miss Slime, especially her wart. Lulu’s first flying lesson around the cemetery goes great.

There’s only one thing she doesn’t like about witch school—curly-haired Sandy Witch who seems to do everything better than Lulu.

Funny, spooky Lulu Goes to Witch School is a Level Two I Can Read book, geared for kids who read on their own, but still need a little help.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This isn't terrible, but I guess I was expecting more, given that it's by Jane O'Connor of Fancy Nancy fame. It's very obviously a book that's meant to be read by early readers. The story is perhaps a little too simple, and aside from the gimmick of everything being witchy, I didn't find much to love about it.

Basically, Lulu goes to witch school. It's just like it sounds. Think Hogwarts for very young children. Lulu's teacher is Miss Slime, who has a wart on her chin and is described as being beautiful (I guess, by witch standards, she is). There's this girl in Lulu's class, though, who's a thorn in her side. Sandy Witch is a pretentious little know-it-all who can do everything better than Lulu. (I'm not sure why this kid hasn't been skipped ahead a few grades. Just so she can be a foil for Lulu?)

Anyway, one day Lulu comes down with lizard pox (which seems to be a variation on chicken pox) and can't go to school for a few days. When she gets back, she finds that Sandy Witch has also had the lizard pox (of course!) so the girls immediately start competing to see who has the most spots.

I don't know if there's really a lesson to be learned here. It's basically two kids being really competitive. Maybe the story and relationship are fleshed out in future installments, but I'm not sure I'd want to bother reading them. This was just mediocre for me. If kids really want to read about witches, they'd probably do better to just skip straight to Harry Potter and have an adult read it to them if they're not quite ready to tackle it on their own.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3 out of 5