The Little Leftover Witch [Paperback]

Florence Laughlin/Sheila Greenwald (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Marcel Dekker (1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0027545601
• ISBN-13: 978-0027545609
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,483,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I never forgot this book, December 4, 1999

By 

Christine (Romeoville,, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Little Leftover Witch (Paperback)

I read this book when I was a small girl and never forgot this charming story although I did forget the title. After searching for years through every children's witch book I found it by chance just sitting on a shelf in the library I work at. I was so happy to relive this wonderful childhood memory of Felina (Lucinda) and the Doon family.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even better than I remembered, June 4, 2004

By 

Gwen A Orel (Millburn, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Little Leftover Witch (Paperback)

Sometimes when you revisit a childhood favorite you discover that much of what made it wonderful is "between the lines" and not there at all, just images you invested in it. But The Little Leftover Witch is really just as wonderful, funny, vivid and haunting as I thought at the time.

This was my FAVORITE book when I was seven, and took it just as a literal fairytale about what would happen if a little witch girl got left on a tree outside a human family's window on Halloween. At the time I much preferred mischievous Felina to sweet Lucinda. It's surprisng to read it again at this distance and see just how perfectly Laughlin captured the behavior of small girls without either fudging on their maturity or condescending to them!

I also found myself entirely in love with the world of the Doons. In fact, I reread the book as soon as I finished. This family is nice-- and yet, still believable. Mrs. Doon loses her temper (well, only after severe provocation when Felina brings the cat to the supermarket!)... and there are family traditions and little bits of individuality everywhere.

What I missed, reading this as a child, was the metaphor for adoption-- and the metaphor of how love can truly change a person. In the world of the Doon's, Felina's witchiness is a fact-- not a delusion-- and everyone in the town buys into it. But in the hands of the adult reader, Felina's witchiness is every lonely child's feeling of not belonging. No wonder all kinds of children love this book! It has everything-- terrific writing (brief enough for early-ish readers), memorable characters, humor, adventure-- and a terrific depiction of the power of love.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Example of Unconditional Love, October 19, 2001

By 

Katie Witt (Longmont, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Little Leftover Witch (Paperback)

My mother-in-law, a former teacher, passed along her copy to us two years ago. We are just about to begin reading it for the third time as part of our autumn traditions. A great example of what unconditional love can do! Age appropriate from about four on, although I had a young three-year-old who liked to listen to it as well. Our paperback copy has pictures on almost every turn of the page.