Book Title: Wanda’s Words Got Stuck (available here)
Author: Lucy Rowland
Illustrator: Paula Bowles
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Publication Date: September 2020
Most Suitable For: EYFS & KS1
Reviewer: Jacqueline Harris
Wanda is a little witch who goes to a witch school. She struggles with shyness and confidence and rarely speaks. One day a new girl, Flo, starts in Wanda’s class and she is also quite shy and quiet. The two little witches become friends and find that they don’t need to speak much to be good friends and play together. One day there is a spell contest and when Flo’s spell gets drastically out of control, can Wanda find her voice in time to save her friend?
This delightful book is told in charming rhyming couplets. It clearly describes a child who is probably in most classes – the very quiet one. The child who is taking everything in but finds it hard for one reason or another to be vocal. In this story she is a witch, but she is instantly recognisable as a real child to many teachers. My own daughter was so much like this it was quite uncanny- the teachers did not even think she could talk when she was at Nursery, and times like Show and Tell were torture to her.
The friendship in this story is very sweet and the illustrations by Paula Bowles are lovely, showing the agony of being forced to say something in front of everyone as well as the blossoming friendship between Wanda and Flo.
I think children will recognise themselves or others in their own class who are like Wanda and Flo and this book will make an excellent talking point for illustrating how different children find certain things harder or easier to do than others.
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You can order Wanda’s Words Got Stuck online or from an independent bookshop.
Many thanks to the publisher for sending us a review copy of this book and to our Review Panel member for reviewing it.
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