I've just returned from visiting my family and looking after my grandson, Jack for the holidays. Unfortunately I couldn't stay for Halloween as room space is a bit cramped and so I came back on Saturday. Still I spent every night reading his bedtime stories and naturally with the holiday coming up he wanted as many stories about witches etc as possible. Luckily he has a great range of books and Julia Donaldson is a great family favorite. I do love her style of writing and the vivid pictures in her tales. They are so lively that I must admit to looking forward to the story myself. Jack is able to read well at six and only requires a bit of prompting, but his nanny does the 'voices' so we generally read it twice!

The story is a bit like the old songs and rhymes with one animal being added to the broom instead of one 'rolling over in bed' etc, but the principle is similar. Jack is also musical and we make songs up based on books, so the fact that this is in rhyme is a great bonus for us both.

It starts with a very friendly witch flying on her broom with her cat on the back. It's a stormy night and the pictures are lovely to look at as we turn the pages following the passage of the witch as she flies over various places. She's a typical witch with a long pointy hat, a black dress and lovely ginger hair, which she ties back in a plait. The cat grins in delight as the broom whizzes through the sky until disaster strikes and the witch loses her hat. She zooms down to earth and finds a spotty dog has caught it. He gives it back, just asking a favour, 'is there room on the broom for me?' This question is asked several times as the witch loses several items in the windy sky and each time it's found by a different animal.

Soon the broom is full up with the witch, the cat, dog, a frog and a parrot, at which point the broom goes 'crack!' and splits into two. The animals tumble off only to see the witch confronted by a fierce dragon who is intent on 'Witch burger' (one of our little jokes) for his tea. They gang together to put the dragon's fiery breath out and persuade the dragon that he doesn't want to cross the witch. But how will the witch get home without her broom? Of course she has a magic cauldron and a spell, which Jack and I love to chant and soon the broom is a super-charged flying broom with seats and a perch for the bird. Off they go with a great cheer and I put the book down with a sigh.

Since I've been reading Aesops Fables to Jack we look for the moral in most stories and this is about friendship and also good deeds. It's a simple concept but one that even small children can start to learn about sharing and being rewarded for helping each other. It's good too that jack loves this story so much that he wanted to tell me in advance what came next. He loved the way I asked him questions about the story and picked out what I was trying to share with him. That made him feel good and we ended our story time with a little chat and a song. I know it's not necessary, but routines are so important to young children and repetition sometimes equals safety.

I cannot recommend this more highly. It's one of a range of stories that will appeal to all children, and their parents and grandparents as well.

This book was one of a set, which was a present but can be bought separately.

Thanks for reading and have a good Halloween.

©Lisa Fuller 2011.