The witch's threats to give people worms and the brooding mandrake may frighten some young children, but the story is more whimsical than scary.Zelinsky’s pen and ink illustrations capture the spunk and ingenuity of Earwig’s personality.

Despite her fantastic situation, Earwig is a relatable character in that she is a head-strong child responding to a situation where someone else is the boss. With the help of her new friend Thomas the cat, Earwig sets her mind to learning magic herself.Children who love classic fairy tale takes on magic will enjoy the wonderful descriptions of disgusting spell ingredients and secret brewing processes. At her new home, Earwig is instructed to grind rats bones and pick herbs for the cauldron, and soon determines that Bella Yaga is a witch. But one day, her uncanny ability to deter prospective foster-parents fails, and she goes home with the strangest couple: Bella Yaga, a “raggety, ribby” faced woman with terrible fashion sense, and a tall man who seems to have horns above his ears. Using her own cleverness-with a lot of help from a talking cat-she decides to show the witch who's boss.Ages 8-11.Earwig is perfectly happy to remain at St. Most children would run in terror from a house like that. Earwig is whisked off to their mysterious house full of invisible rooms, potions, and spell books, with magic around every corner.

But all that changes the day Bella Yaga and the Mandrake come to St. She gets whatever she wants, whenever she wants it, and it's been that way since she was dropped on the orphanage doorstep as a baby. Morwald's Home for Children, but Earwig does.

Not every orphan would love living at St. When she finds herself in a house of dark magic, she does whatever she can to adapt-especially if it means that she'll learn a little magic herself! A young middle grade novel by World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement‒winner Diana Wynne Jones, beautifully illustrated in black and white by Caldecott Medalist Paul O. In this enchanting introduction to Diana Wynne Jones's magical and funny work, Earwig is a fearless young orphan.

'I would like to declare Diana Wynne Jones an international treasure,' proclaimed Neil Gaiman, Newbery Medalist and best-selling author.

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