Module 8- Earwig and the Witch

Summary
Earwig is quite happy living at St. Morwald's Orphanage, mostly because everyone there does whatever she wants.  But all of that changes one day when Bella Yaga and her husband Mandrake adopt her.  Earwig discovers that she has been adopted so that she can act as an assistant to Bella Yaga, a witch.  Earwig quickly grows tired of the grueling work and bad treatment and vows to get Bella Yaga and Mandrake under her control.  With the help of Thomas, a friendly cat, she learns magic spells and gets her wish.

Jones, D., & Zelinsky, P. (2012). Earwig and the witch. New York: Greenwillow Books.

My impressions
Earwig and the Witch is a fun introduction to the fantasy genre for young readers.  Its simple, short format make it digestible to a variety of readers, and it has plenty of "gross" elements to please boys and girls alike.  Earwig is a quirky, unusual character that will be appealing to students who work a little bit off of the beaten path.

Reviews

LeMerise, A. J. (2012). Earwig and the Witch. School Library Journal, 58(2), 91.
Earwig is a most unusual girl. As a baby, she arrived at St. Morwald's Orphanage under mysterious circumstances. Since then, she has possessed a strange affinity for making the staff do exactly what she wants--from preparing her favorite meals to buying her new clothes. For this reason, Earwig goes out of her way to avoid being adopted. Then comes the fateful day Bella Yaga, accompanied by Mandrake, her sinister shape-shifting sidekick, arrives at St. Morwald's and takes Earwig to do her grunt work. Slave duty doesn't even come with magic lessons. But with the help of Thomas, a feline familiar, Earwig outsmarts the witch in a most ironic way. And before long, she has both Bella Yaga and Mandrake under her control. This appears to have been the first in a charming new series, cut short by the author's untimely passing in 2011. Earwig is a plucky, albeit bossy, heroine, and the story is packed with wit and humor. Zelinsky's illustrations enhance this imaginative tale.

Earwig and the Witch. (2011). Publishers Weekly, 258(49), 73-74.

This funny story updates fairy tale conventions while highlighting Jones's subversive wit and her firm belief that children can control their own lives. Earwig rules the roost at St. Morwald's Home for Children until she is adopted by a witchy woman named Bella Yaga with "one brown eye and one blue one, and a raggety, ribby look to her face." Earwig hopes to learn magic from Bella Yaga, but is trapped in the woman's decrepit house, sharing it with the Mandrake, an impossibly tall and grouchy being. Powerful and evil, Bella Yaga uses Earwig as a second pair of hands for grinding up disgusting things in bowls ("The only thing wrong with magic is that it smells so awful," Earwig quips). The witch and the Mandrake, however, have never before dealt with a determined girl who claims alpha status; Zelinsky's spot art, not all seen by PW, makes it clear that the squinty, pigtailed heroine is not someone to be trifled with. Featuring delightfully odd characters and eccentric magic, this all too brief tale is a fine introduction to the late author's more complex YA novels.

 

Suggestion for library use

After reading Earwig and the Witch, students could write their own magic spells to accomplish a variety of tasks.  They could share these spells by acting them out for each other.