Gobbolino the Witch's Cat

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Of course I have left out the Harry Potter series from this roundup, which might be a little remiss, as Hermione is truly a great witch. However, I have an admission. We’ve seen all the films, but it’s only my husband who has read the books.

There’s a whole series of Winnie books with nice big colourful illustrations which make them great for reading to two to five year olds. Into Opera is transforming this well-known children’s book, Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat by Ursula Moray Williams, into an opera for family audiences. The opera will include an 8-person professional cast and 10-piece chamber orchestra. We are offering hundreds of primary school children the opportunity to participate in developing this brand new opera and to gain a unique insight into the often ‘closed’ process of how an opera is actually created. We aim to offer children a truly immersive introduction to opera, which enables them to explore, challenge, and creatively participate in all elements of what this art form can offer. Children have already started working with: Although his mother Grimalkin and sister Sootica are both witch's cats, Gobbolino longs to be a kitchen cat instead, to be loved rather than feared. Abandoned by his mother and her witch because his "abnormal" white paw and blue eyes makes him unsuitable as a witch's cat, Gobbolino sets off to find a loving home. In a series of adventures, our hero continually finds what appear to be ideal homes, only to be turned out again when his parentage is revealed, or the circumstances of his human companions change. It's an episodic shaggy-dog story, and every chapter follows the exact same plot. Gobbolino was born a witch's kitten, but he is nice and doesn't want to harm anyone, so he wants to be a kitchen cat. He will find some people to live with, and all goes well, until they discover he is a witch's cat and will chase him out and on to the next chapter where the exact same thing will happen with some new people. It is so monotonous, I could barely bring myself to read on, but I wanted to finish it since I knew I enjoyed it as a child.They are also super delightful for parents to read to their children at bedtime or other read out loud moments. The only downside is that there is a HUGE ‘just one more chapter’ thing going on, which can lead to lights out way later than planned!! I listened to the audiobook of this, and though I enjoyed this as a 'listen', I didn't like the voice of Gobbolino much, though it didn't come along too often. Ursula Moray Williams (1911-2006) began writing and illustrating books at the age of nine or ten, together with her twin sister. Over the course of a long career, she wrote more than sixty books for children, illustrating many of them herself. She was also a juvenile magistrate.

A relative newcomer to the witch stories for kids genre, Witchworld is an absolute delight to read. We discovered this, the first book of a trilogy, a few months ago and now have the full trilogy on the book shelf. The clear print and simple but super fun stories make them fabulous early reading books for children who may find conventional reading schemes dull. For early readers you can also buy editions with multiple stories, in fact there’s a set of ten books you can buy.In 1984 Puffin published The Further Adventures of Gobbolino and the Little Wooden Horse, a joint sequel to Gobbolino and to Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse (1938). We love a witch story in this family. So we’ve rounded up our seven favourite witch stories for kids. Each of these children’s witch story books is a brilliant read. Jill Murphy is brilliant at using really simple language to tell compellingly good stories. This makes these books fun early chapter books to read to four to six year olds. Here’s a roundup of some of the story books with witches that we’ve read and loved over the last few years. The story started on a dark and cloudy night, when Gobbolino found himself the odd one out amongst witch's kittens - he had one white paw, blue (not green) eyes, and a hint of tabby on his coat. His appearance disqualified him to be a witch's cat, also his heart was too kind to be one. He wanted to be good, not bad; he wanted to be a kitchen cat. After being rejected by the crowd he was born into, he embarked on a journey to find the home he would belong. Along the way, his magic and kindness brought happiness to many, yet his own happiness never really lasted.

There are ten books in the series, but why not start at the beginning with the original Meg and Mog book. Do be prepared for tears, Gobbolino gets into some terrible scrapes before he finally finds a mat he can call home. This is a wonderful first chapter book for children. Each chapter tells a separate instalment in Gobbolino’s journey and ends with a cliff hanger that keeps the reader wanting more.I didn’t discover The Witches as a child, so it was an extra delight to enjoy this story unfolding as I read it to my daughter. It’s a thrilling adventure with a cliff hanger at the end of each chapter, but at a deeper level encourages children to think about how brave you might have to be, to be good. Meg and Mog is a series of children’s books written by Helen Nicolland illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski.