The Surprise in the Wardrobe

by Val Willis, John Shelley (Contributor)

All the kids at school have amazing things--from a rabbit munching lettuce in a box, to a birthday cake hidden inside a desk--but no one can match Bobby Bell and the extraordinary surprise in his wardrobe

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 16, 1990

Reviews

[sweet orange books]

What is even this book? A small kid hides a witch in his wardrobe and cannot wait to show her to everyone in his school. The kid is demanding, moving the silent and obedient witch here and there, and she is completely objectified.

At school, the witch is bullied "I don't want to sit next to her, she's too ugly", and the witch answers with a completely placid and smiley face, and no one says anything. She then starts taking revenge by creating many mischievous tricks, and there's not much more to the story. The story made me feel really awkward and I was anxious to turn the next page and see how bad this whole situation would become. This book definitely didn't age well, wow!

PS: The witch does talk in the end, and when she does something on her own that is not revenge, she paints her nails green or asks for a brush to comb her hair... The book is that deep!

Read and reviewed: 2019-12-22

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023)]

2* art
2* story

[Kimberly]

Cute story. Nice drawings. No story line to follow. Good for Halloween but nothing else.