Turning milk sour, blighting turnips, making the cows go dry” (51), and chanting distorted versions of children’s verse (à la Alice in Wonderland (1865), but lacking any levity) that are unquestionably intended to harm. The students at Endor College are learning “spells of the simpler kind. From here, though, The Little Broomstick branches out on its own, refusing to conform to the trope of schools for good witches and wizards such as Hogwarts, Larwood House, or Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy. The discovery of a magical flower (the “witch’s flower” of the anime) and its animation of a little broomstick Mary finds, lead her to Endor College for witches. Lonely, she wanders into the autumn-dying garden, and encounters the taciturn gardener and a robin flitting about “as if it were his familiar” (à la The Secret Garden, 1911). The story begins in a rather recognizable way, with a young girl sent off to live with an aged relative (à la The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, 1950). There is something almost Diana-Wynne-Jonesian about her narrative voice, which can only be a good thing in a story about witches. Again, though, modern sensibilities may be at fault in my evaluation, for her narrative style does effectively meld childish linguistic simplicity with a hint of fairy tale rhetoric. The intelligence and sophistication with language that are a trademark of Stewart’s writing are similarly weakened when aimed at a younger readership. But maybe I am unfairly imposing the sensibilities of a modern child reader on a book written in 1971 for me, timeless classics such as Black Beauty (1877) and Swallows and Amazons (1930) fail in this regard just as strongly. Mary Stewart is a mistress of descriptive writing, as much in The Little Broomstick as in her novels for adults, but this is not perhaps a strength: the child reader will likely not want to savour the lengthy, intimate description of Great-Aunt Charlotte’s gardener, or even the garden he inhabits, with its “sad, beautiful smell of autumn” (13). It turns out that The Little Broomstick is not all that easy to find, but yesterday my copy came in the post, shipped all the way from the wilds of North Yorkshire. Mary Stewart is, after all, one of my favourite adult authors. 24.In anticipation of Studio Ponoc’s upcoming release of Mary and the Witch’s Flower, I thought I would read Mary Stewart’s The Little Broomstick, upon which the movie is based. The producer, Yoshiaki Nishimura, also produced The Tale of The Princess Kaguya and When Marnie Was There. The animated film, Mary and the Witch's Flower, will be released in 2018 by Studio Ponoc. 9781444940190 The Little Broomstick 24.0000 NZD InStock /shop/books /shop/books/childrens-books/fiction /shop/books/childrens-books /shop/books/childrens-books/fiction/science-fiction-fantasy /shop/books/childrens-books/fiction/general First published 45 years ago, this is a beautiful new edition of Mary Stewart's beloved magical classic illustrated by Shirley Hughes. This Rough Magic and The Moon-Spinners, and five historical fantasy novels of Arthurian Britain. Mary Stewart is the bestselling author of fourteen romantic thrillers, including the classic novels But the moment her broomstick takes off, she realises that Tib the cat has been captured. Students are taught spells that are petty and ill-wishing, and when Mary discovers evidence of a terrible and cruel experiment in transformation, she decides to leave. Before Mary can gather her wits, the broomstick jumps into action, whisking her over the treetops, above the clouds, and to the grounds of Endor College, school of witchcraft.īut something is terribly wrong at Endor. Miserable and lonely, she befriends strange black cat Tib who leads her deep into the forest to an ordinary looking broomstick. Mary's been exiled to her great-aunt, deep in the English countryside. First published 45 years ago, this is a beautiful new edition of Mary Stewart's beloved magical classic illustrated by Shirley Hughes. 'The little broomstick gave a leap, a violent twist, a kick like the kick of a pony.' First published 45 years ago, this is a beautiful new edition of Mary Stewart's beloved magical classic illustrated by Shirley Hughes.ĭon't miss the beautifully animated film adaptation called Mary and the Witch's Flower (by the producer of The Tale of The Princess Kaguya), in cinemas now.
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