Room on the Broom

Product Information

A really good read-aloud story, with great rhythm, rhyme and repetitive elements. My son is 16 months old, and Room on the Broom is currently his second favourite book - he goes and gets it himself from his book shelf most days, which is really cute. The rhymes are wonderful and the characters are lovable. The TV show is so well done that it outshines the book a bit, at least for someone who saw that first and read the book later. They adapted the show faithfully to the work and it fills in many gaps. Still, everything is here in the story, accept that the cat does not want the other animals on the broom. That was added for the show. But the glee of the witch is here with her loyal animals.

This favourite picture book is a real delight: an ingenious and humorous story with a rhythmical text that is ideal for reading aloud. Axel Scheffler has artistically surpassed himself with the brightly-coloured illustrations, which give convincing and expressive features to all the different characters.Julia Donaldson’s wonderful children’s book, told in rhyme, is a story of friendship, sharing, and kindness that would be great to read aloud with young children! In addition, several parts had me laughing out loud. Axel Scheffler’s illustrations greatly enhance the story too! The kids love this story. They have watched the show over and over and love the book. They both gave the book 5 stars, which might not be fair, but they love it. They can practically recite the lines of the book. Still, it's the first time to read it for all of us. From former Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson and longtime collaborator Axel Scheffler comes this much-loved tale about a witch and her gang of friends. Axel was born in Hamburg, Germany. At school he was good at art, but didn't think of a career in illustration until he won a cuddly purple cow in a drawing competition. He moved to England in 1982 to study illustration at the Bath Academy of Art, and then set up home in London.

It's a perfect tale of helping strangers as a kind witch invite various new friends onto her broom after having lost her hat, plait and and wand in a storm. Read the description of the ‘horrible beast’ that rises from the ditch and use it to draw the creature. How is the witch in this story different from the other witches you’ve seen? Would you want to be friends with her? Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler are the creators of many beloved picture books including The Gruffalo , The Gruffalo's Child , The Snail and the Whale , and The Spiffiest Giant in Town .I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him). The ‘horrible beast’ that rises from the ditch makes lots of strange noises. Can you think of other animal noises? Can you find other examples of onomatopoeia? I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs.

Why did the witch let the animals on her broom? Would you have made room on the broom for the animals? Look at the rhyming words in the book. Is there a pattern to the rhyming? Can you think of other words that rhyme? Look at the expressions of each of the characters in the illustrations. Can you describe how they are feeling? Could you draw your own pictures which show different people’s emotions? The broom broke when the frog “jumped for joy.” Was it the frog’s fault that the broom broke? Who’s fault was it?All of the animals in the story help the witch. Students can have discussions about why we help others. Why did the animals return the witch’s belongings? It could be that the animals care for the well-being of the witch. Or could it be that the animals have a self-interest to go on the broom? Could it be both? Is one reason better or worse as motivation to help others? Here is a picture of me acting the witch in our stage show “The Gruffalo, the Witch and the Warthog”.

Animated film based on the wonderful children's picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.

This, archetype-ally, is about the power of the Crone. She cares for others and they become loyal to her. They area force for good. She is not alone after all her children are gone. It's a great representation of that. We're a family of witch fans and this book is so much fun to read and very exciting for my little boy. Great opportunity to do silly voices for all the different characters and the rhymes are fab. Love this book! Noisy books aside, this is the best. He likes to point at the witch and the cat and the dog and the bird and the frog. He likes to mimic the dramatic, booming, Brian Blessed-esque voice I used for the ' down came the broom' line, around which each verse hinges. And you can never get them started on fantasy too young - good witches and bad dragons - perfect! We'll get him reading Tolkien before he's ten...