The Witch's Guide to Cooking with Children

McGowan, K. (2009).The Witch's guide to

cooking with children. New York:Henry Holt.



The title should be a dead giveaway (every pun intended). The Witch's Guide to Cooking with Children might sound like a normal cookbook, but it is most definitely not!  When it says "with children", it does not mean they are helping out with the meal.  They ARE the meal!  McGowan puts a new twist on the Grimm brothers' fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel with modern day conveniences like cell phones, cars, and internet searches at the local public library.  The author's creepy touches give new meaning to everyday situations such as children who go missing (the witch cooked them in her oven) and how parents deal with children who are bad or who argue with their siblings (dropped them off at the witch's pickup stations cleverly disguised as mailboxes or storefronts).  Of course, our hero and heroine, brother and sister Sol and Connie, end up on the run (this time without the forest or the candy-covered cottage) and dodge danger at every turn.  Will there ever be a happy ending for these kids?