2/29/2024: Little Witch Goes To School

 

Witches in school?! As I was browsing the internet and looking through dozens of witchy children’s books, Little Witch Goes To School caught my attention. This book was written by Deborah Hautzig in 1998 and released through Random House Publishing’s “Step Into Reading” series. I felt waves of nostalgia reading this book since I grew up reading many stories from the “Step into Reading” series– how special. This particular book is a level 3, meaning that it is for children ages 4-7 with about a kindergarten reading level. While I have included a few pages from the book in my post below, here is a link to a read-along of the book, if you feel so inclined to check it out.  

A brief summary: Little Witch wants to go to school just like her friends, but her mother thinks she should stay home and learn from her nasty witchy aunts. Mother Witch finally agrees to let Little Witch go, but only if she promises to be very, very bad. Little Witch’s time at school proves to be quite the opposite, as she makes friends, uses her powers for good, and learns a lot about herself along the way– now that’s bad!

Storyline

Little Witch is sick of being bored at home– her only friends are her pet cat and bat (familiars). Mother Witch keeps her at home and tells her to learn from her aunts, Nasty and Grouchy, as they throw eggs at the mailman. Little Witch feels sorry for the poor mailman and casts a spell to clean him. As a result, her mother and aunts get angry, saying that she is far too good! After begging and pleading, Mother Witch agrees to let Little Witch go to school only if she promises to be bad, make no friends, and not learn anything! 

When Little Witch first arrives at school, she feels like an outcast among the other students, who say that witches are not real. To prove them wrong, Little Witch casts a magic spell and flies around the room on her broomstick. Throughout her time at school, Little Witch makes lots of friends and uses her powers for good. For instance, she uses magic to clean up a mess in art class and turn her teacher’s wormy apple into a delicious banana. When the school day is done, Little Witch flies her new friends home on her broomstick, only to meet her angry mother. Little Witch feels sorry that she broke her promise to her mother. However, Mother tells her that by breaking her promise, she was being bad after all! Mother Witch is proud of her daughter and Little Witch goes to bed dreaming about her next “bad” day at school. 

While this story seems silly at first glance, I actually found it to be intriguing and relevant to many of our discussions in class. In many ways, this story portrays witchcraft in a stereotypically negative light. Little Witch’s mother and aunts are old, grumpy hags who use their powers to harm, harass, and annoy other people. Additionally, when Little Witch first arrives at school, she is “Othered” by her classmates and they doubt the legitimacy of her practices, which aligns with the historical marginalization of witches. However, in other ways, this story shifts the perception of witches into a more positive light. Instead of using her powers to wreak havoc on others, little Witch casts spells to help the mailman, impress her teacher, and clean up after her classmates. While she is initially “Othered,” Little Witch ends up making many friends and they accept her for who she is– and think her powers are super cool too! In this sense, Little Witch fits into mainstream society and makes positive contributions to it, which deviates greatly from the historical experience of witches across the world. 

During our last class, we discussed how witches went against societal norms by doing everything opposite and differently than the rest. People went to church in the morning, but witches gathered for their sabbath at night. People would join in meditative prayer, while witches danced and chanted around a fire. The list goes on. Interestingly, Little Witch Goes To School brings this concept to life in its own way. Instead of parents telling their children to be good, make friends, and learn a lot at school, Little Witch is told to be bad, make no friends, and learn nothing. While most parents tell their children to not eat too much candy, Little Witch’s mother packs her lunch full of candy so that her teeth rot. Most parents teach their kids to be kind to others, while Little Witch is taught to be mean to strangers for fun. 

With this in mind, I cannot help but wonder how this book was received by parents and schools. Perhaps the book’s attempt at using reverse psychology to teach children to behave and be good was effective, but I highly doubt it. Are children at this age able to understand the sarcasm and metaphors of the story, or are they taking Mother Witch’s orders seriously? Since young children often put themselves in the shoes of the main character of a story, I can see how problematic it would be for a child to be reading a book that instructs them to be bad, misbehave, and go against parental orders. It seems as though this book’s storyline contradicts the key pillars of kindness and respect that parents and schools vehemently try to instill in children. Thus, I am not sure if I would want my kindergartener to read this story. Regardless, I was intrigued to learn about a book that integrates witchcraft into a school setting, as this kind of formal institution is highly influential in molding children’s thoughts and behavior during their formative years.