The Notwitches – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: witches, magic, determination, love, positivity.
Children’s book title: The Notwitches.
Children’s author: Gary Panton.
Children’s illustrator: Dotty Sutton.
Genre: Children’s fiction.
Published by: Chicken House.
ISBN: 9781915947413.
Recommended for children aged: 7-11 year-olds.
First published: Paperback February 2025.
This children’s book is ideal for: anyone who enjoys humorous children’s fiction, independent readers, although they would need to be confident at the lower end of the age range, and for whole class reading.
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Our review:
Melanda Notwitch, just to be clear, is not a witch! Unfortunately, she is also not a very happy eleven-year-old with no friends. She isn’t allowed to go to school and lives with her three dreadful aunts, spending every day providing for all their demanding needs. There is Aunt Thumb, who doesn’t seem to have any real idea who Melanda is, Aunt Claggy, who only eats stationery, and Aunt Rear Admiral Barbara Notwitch, who has an unfortunate problem with barnacles!
To try to stay positive about her situation, Melanda writes secretly. Her stories are creepy and scary, and if she’s lucky, she gets to finish them before Aunt Claggy uses the paper as a snack!
One morning, answering the door, Melanda has no idea just how much her life is about to change. Standing there is a witch called Mitch, along with Rolo, a very quiet talking cat. As a result of this meeting, Melanda will meet the Hairy Skulls Biker Gang (who don’t actually have any bikes), a group of mermaids (who do), as well as a very depressed gnome, and a buzzard called Muffin! Not a bad start for an adventure! By the time it reaches its end, Melanda has friends, she’s been up a mountain, to the beach, and even heard the very quiet cat speak! She thinks she quite likes adventures!
Our verdict:
This is a fun read, with imaginative characters, interesting backstories, and two main protagonists you can easily root for. Melanda’s life is described in such a way that, although you want her to succeed in her quest, it’s clear her problems are definitely unique and not something anyone else would need to worry about. After all, very few people know anyone who survives solely on paper, pens, and protractors, or who is fifty per cent barnacle!
Once Melanda’s backstory has been explained, this becomes an uplifting experience with laugh-out-loud moments, villains no one wants to succeed, and a very cute kitten! It’s a book that focuses on what you can achieve with an extremely positive, though not overly so, message. The storyline, outcome, ending, and overall positivity would work well as a whole-class reading experience. The illustrations by Dotty Sutton are wonderful; even the three aunts are drawn in a humorous rather than scary way, complementing the story throughout.
Teaching points and book club discussion ideas:
- The author of The Notwitches gives his characters brilliantly inventive names. Which is your favourite? If you had to write about good and bad witches, would you choose their names beforehand or as you start writing about them?
- It is obvious, from The Notwitches cover, that Melanda is a kind, friendly girl. In a cross-curricular activity with art, draw a good and bad character for this type of fiction. What type of things would you use to identify their character as easily as the illustrator does in this book?
- In the story, the action flows effortlessly from one situation to another all the way through. How would you plan a similar type of story?
- The mermaids here aren’t as we would normally imagine them. Did you like that? Could the author have used a completely new imaginary animal instead? What would you have done?
- Everyone has to do chores, but Melanda certainly has some awful ones! She writes to escape her situation. If you were her, what would you choose to do? Would it have been better if Melanda didn’t like doing something one of her strange aunts liked to eat?
- This is the first book in a new series; the second adventure will be published later in the year. What do you think might happen next for Melanda and Mitch the Witch? Will the other characters reappear? If so, which ones do you want to read about again?
Many thanks to Chicken House for the review copy.
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