The lovely witch from Room on the Broom came to our house last week, and Noah was completely captivated by our special visitor. I read the book to him quite some time back, and borrowed a copy of it from the library a few days before the witch visited, so that I could refresh his memory.
Room on the Broom is yet another one of Julia Donaldson’s hit stories, and employs the usual literary devices such as repetition and rhymes to make the book fun to read. The witch isn’t your typical evil witch, but a good and kind one, albeit a little careless (she drops quite a few of her belongings while flying on her broomstick). She encounters four kind animals who help her along the way, and she gives them a ride on her broomstick in return for their kindness. When a fire-spitting dragon threatens to eat her, the four animals come to her rescue again, and they go off on their merry way together on a brand-new broomstick which the witch conjures up.
The book is delightful to read, and there is plenty of opportunity to get your child to read the lines animatedly, which I personally feel makes a book more memorable. I also used the book to discuss the importance of being kind and generous with Noah, as he said he liked the witch because she was kind to the animals. He’s at the stage where sharing and being kind to others is important to him, so I like reading books which highlight these qualities to him.
Room on the Broom
After reading the book together a couple of times, I asked Noah if he’d like to have the witch visit us, expecting him to be enthusiastic about it. To my surprise, he said no immediately, because he didn’t like the dragon, and was afraid that the dragon would come with the witch. I assured him that the witch was coming alone, and decided not to talk about her visit again until the day itself, just in case he freaked out.
Reading the book before bed
When the witch made her appearance that afternoon, Noah was rather hesitant about talking to her, but he warmed up quickly to her, because she was really friendly. They played with his xylophone together, and she even danced as he hit the xylophone randomly played the xylophone. After that, we had a real treat as she read an excerpt from the book to Noah! (You can watch the video HERE.) Noah shared his concerns about the scary dragon with her, and I was most amused when she assured him that she had the dragon population firmly under control. He had such a great time hanging out with her that he was genuinely sad when she said she had to leave to look for her broomstick. For days after that, he talked about the witch, and would ask me to carry him to look out of the window, so that he could “help the nice witch look for her broomstick”. He also wanted to know why the witch wore her shoes into our home, and why she wore them everywhere, including to bathe (which was what she told him). I had a tough time explaining that one!
Playing the xylophone with the witch
Reading with the witch
Noah dressed up as a pilot, while the witch hitched a ride on his Duplo plane
Get your tickets to KidsFest 2016!
Room on the Broom is part of KidsFest 2016, and the entire programme line-up looks fantastic as usual. There’s The Gruffalo, which we saw at the beginning of this year, and you can read our review HERE. Tickets for that show have already been sold out, and new shows have recently been added, so get your tickets quickly! Tickets to Room on the Broom are selling like hotcakes too, so if I were you, I’d get my tickets as soon as possible. In fact, get your tickets to ALL the KidsFest shows at the same time, to avoid disappointment.
Room on the Broom 28-31 Jan 2016 Thu/Fri, 28/29 Jan: 5pm Sat, 30 Jan: 10am, 12pm & 5pm Sun, 31 Jan: 10am, 12pm & 3pm SOTA Drama Theatre Ticket Pricing (Excludes Booking Fee): S$62, S$52, S$42 Get your tickets from Sistic HERE. PS. Quote ‘KFSG16’ and save 10% as a friend of Kidsfest!
Happy reading (and watching)!
Buy the Book Room on the Broom on Amazon Room on the Broom on Book Depository
Check out the previous Friday Flips posts HERE. I’ve also created a photo album on Facebook with some other good reads, and will be updating it whenever I come across more books that we enjoy. Do pop by for a look HERE.
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Disclaimer: The good witch visited our home as part of the KidsFest 2016 publicity, and gifted us with a little tub of candy (which I may or may not have hidden and eaten). All photos and opinions are, as always, our own.
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