Karen Brewer lives next door to Mrs. Porter, who wears long robes and
has wild gray hair. Mrs. Porter has a black cat named Midnight and
always seems to be working in her garden. Karen isn't supposed to spy on
her neighbor, but she's determined to prove that Mrs. Porter is a witch
named Morbidda Destiny!
Mrs. Porter is getting ready to have a
special meeting at her house, and Karen is sure the meeting is for
witches. Are they going to cast a spell on Karen? Or will she be brave
enough to send them away -- once and for all?
Once upon a time, seven-year-old me went to a garage sale
and came upon a box of books: the first 19 books in
The Baby-Sitters
Little Sisters series and the first Super Special. It took some
convincing to get my mom to buy the complete set (and if I recall correctly,
the seller wasn’t too keen to break-up the set so if we were going to get them,
we had to get them all). In some ways I suspect that she came to realize that
this was an amazing purchasing as these were the books that would start my
reading obsession. (and what parent doesn’t want their kid to enjoy reading).
On the other hand, this purchase was also the beginning of a huge financial
investment into the world of
Ann M. Martin so she may still have some regrets.
Either way, Karen Brewer is the reason I love the written word. I don’t remember
how long it took me the finish these 20 books, but I know that before I was
done with the second grade, I had finished every
BSCLS book available in my personal collection and at the public
library. I soon moved onto
The Baby-Sitters
Club series and have spent almost 25 years with these beloved characters. On
occasion, I go through books from my childhood and clear out space by either
donating them or exchanging them at the local used book store. But Ann M.
Martin’s books are the books that I will never part with.
Nostagia seems to be a huge selling point right now. I tend
to get turned off by this (did we really need the 2016
Ghostbusters?). But there is that special place in my heart for any
content set in Stoneybrook, Connecticut so I lap up anything released with
Martin’s name on it. The graphic novel release of
Karen’s Witch is no exception. I think the
Little Sister series works better for a re-release than
The Baby-Sitters Club. Karen is only six
or seven (depending on the book) so technology isn’t as much of a driving force
for her books. In the 90s, it was the cool thing to be the kid with your own
phone line in your bedroom, so of course Claudia’s personal line was amazing.
Now, the concept of four to seven girls gathering three times a week to sit
around waiting for a landline to ring is a bit odd. So while I have enjoyed the
new graphic novels featuring the BSC, the books haven’t aged quite as well as I
would have liked. However, Karen’s universe works really well even now.
Karen Brewer lives most of the time at her mommy’s house and
every other weekend at her daddy’s house. A witch lives next door to her daddy’s,
or so she believes. Everyone in her family tells her to leave Mrs. Porter
alone, but Karen is determined to find out the truth and reveal Morbidda Destiny to the world. She tries to stay up all night to catch Morbidda Destiny
flying on a broom, but falls asleep. When she and her best friend, Hannie catch
wind of a witches meeting, she becomes even more determined to let all of
Stoneybrook know that there is a witch in town.
The graphic novel (illustrated by
Katy Farina) hits the same beats as the original book. There isn’t quite as much
backstory and character development as I recall, but that seems to be the norm
in graphic novels. The style of this book works well with the material and is
easy to follow. I would say my only complaint is that some of the characters
looked a little different than how they were portrayed in previous BSC books.
While this makes sense as they have different artists, I could see this being a
tad confusing for readers who aren’t as exposed to the material (kids reading
it for the first time, as opposed to those of that grew up with the first run
of the material). However, I do see this book appealing to young readers and
those little details not being important. My hope is that readers do enjoy this
book and reach out for other books by Ann M. Martin. The advantage is that she
has written so many books, there isn’t the annoyance that is waiting for a new
book to come out and the enjoyment of the material can last. I would recommend this
books for girls around six to nine, and especially those that are in the early
stages of reading that aren’t quite ready for things such as Dork Diaries or Smile. This book would also be good for
families to read together as there is also the lesson behind the story (don’t
spy on the neighbors) and can be a good opportunity for family discussion.
Either way, this book is worth a read.
Happy Reading!
-Melly
A lifelong resident of northern New Jersey, Dawn Altieri has been
scribbling stories practically since birth. After reaching a milestone
birthday (she won't say which one), she figured it was about time she
took a shot at writing professionally. 
