Book Review: Mrs. Biddlebox Her Bad Day and What She Did with It

My version has a different color.

I am sure some of my Witchy parent readers out there struggle with story time as I do. Sure, there are some great pagan-centric tales and even some mainstream tales with fairies or Witches that aren't evil (although Witches not being evil is certainly the minority), but most tales where there is a Witch character mostly take two roads: either the Witch is the villian or the tale is all about being a Witch.

Where are the books about Witches where the story proceeds and the fact that they are a Witch is part of the story but not THE story? I mean, are we, as Witches, allowed to have lives?

I was delighted when I checked out this book from my local library. It was happenstance, but a fortuitous one.

Mrs. Biddlebox is a woman who gets up on the wrong side of the bed one day and everything is awful and bothers her. So... she fixes it, through sheer will. She takes her broom and cauldron (ahem) and gathers up the elements that bother her and cooks them into a cake, does a little dance around the baking spell, and then she later consumes it and feels great about it.

Then she says goodbye to that dreary day and welcomes in the dark sacred night with a smile. It's about as Witchy as you can get, and teaches some major magickal principles and spells as well. But the story is about how she handles having a bad day- we are not beaten over the head with the fact that she is a Witch. In fact, the word Witch does not appear in the rhyming book, although "witchety delight" does.

I think this book is so excellent that I am going to buy a copy for Rowan of his own.

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Formal Ratings:

Title: Mrs. Biddlebox Her Bad Day and What She Did About It
Author: Linda Smith and Marla Frazee
Publisher: Harcourt Inc.
Price: $15.00 USD 
ISBN: 978-0-15-206349-8

Topics Covered: Magickal Thinking, Spells, Witchcraft

Target Audience: children ages 2-10

Witch Mom Rating: Three Hats

This book is agreat story, plain and simple. It teaches kids that bad moods are something that they can control. It teaches basic spellcraft, it has a protagonist Witch without being evil or beating you over the head with it. Love this book!