Greg Gormley

Fairy-tale-loving Frankie gets a surprise one morning when a series of characters from her favorite stories show up at her house, asking for her help in hiding from a witch. With a princess climbing in the window, a unicorn in her closet, a mermaid in the bathtub, a knight hiding behind the coats, a frog in the cereal box, and a king disguised as a lamp, it's a full house. But where is Frankie going to hide, when the witch shows up...?

The first of two books about Frankie and her fairy-tale friends, Fairy Tale Frankie and the Tricky Witch offers a lighthearted look at some of children's literature's best-known character types. Author Greg Gormley's story is amusing, and I liked the surprise resolution, in which the fairy-tale characters turn out to be playing a game of hide and seek. Illustrator Steven Lenton's artwork is colorful and cute, and I appreciated the scene in which the book must be turned on its side, to see the layout of Frankie's entire house. I tracked this one down because of my interest in witchy picture-books - a pet project of mine - and am glad to have read it. While it won't be going on any of my favorites lists, either as a fairy-tale mash-up or as a witchy tale, it was entertaining, and is one I would recommend to young fairy-tale lovers, particularly those who dream of meeting the characters in their most beloved stories.… (més)