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Rosemary's Witch
Everyone in Rosemary's family has a label. Her Father is a historian, Mother a dancer, and brother Nicky a 'knower of rocks'. Rosemary is just a quiet girl who loves words but has trouble using them. One dream they all share is that they want a house they can really love.The summer Rosemary is nine they find an old farmhouse with plenty of rooms, surrounded by meadows of flowers and fireflies. Strange things objects disappear, the weather turns cold and foggy in July, the town is invaded by toads that disappear as suddenly as they came.Rosemary notices a pinched face drawn in one of the roses on her wallpaper and cannot stop thinking of the sadness in the face. She decides to find out more about the person who put it there. This is a deliciously spooky tale about a girl who learns that words come easily from a full heart.
164 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1991
About the author
Ann Turner
104 books35 followersAnn Turner, also known and published as Ann Warren Turner, is a children's author and a poet.
Ann Turner wrote her first story when she was eight years old. It was about a dragon and a dwarf named Puckity. She still uses that story when she talks to students about writing, to show them that they too have stories worth telling.
Turner has always loved to write, but at first she was afraid she couldn't make a living doing it. So she trained to be a teacher instead. After a year of teaching, however, she decided she would rather write books than talk about them in school.
Turner's first children's book was about vultures and was illustrated by her mother. She has written more than 40 books since then, most of them historical picture books. She likes to think of a character in a specific time and place in American history and then tell a story about that character so that readers today can know what it was like to live long ago.
Ann Turner says that stories choose her, rather than the other way around: "I often feel as if I am walking along quietly, minding my own business, when a story creeps up behind me and taps me on the shoulder. 'Tell me, show me, write me!' it whispers in my ear. And if I don't tell that story, it wakes me up in the morning, shakes me out of my favorite afternoon nap, and insists upon being told."
(from: http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai...)
Ann Turner wrote her first story when she was eight years old. It was about a dragon and a dwarf named Puckity. She still uses that story when she talks to students about writing, to show them that they too have stories worth telling.
Turner has always loved to write, but at first she was afraid she couldn't make a living doing it. So she trained to be a teacher instead. After a year of teaching, however, she decided she would rather write books than talk about them in school.
Turner's first children's book was about vultures and was illustrated by her mother. She has written more than 40 books since then, most of them historical picture books. She likes to think of a character in a specific time and place in American history and then tell a story about that character so that readers today can know what it was like to live long ago.
Ann Turner says that stories choose her, rather than the other way around: "I often feel as if I am walking along quietly, minding my own business, when a story creeps up behind me and taps me on the shoulder. 'Tell me, show me, write me!' it whispers in my ear. And if I don't tell that story, it wakes me up in the morning, shakes me out of my favorite afternoon nap, and insists upon being told."
(from: http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai...)
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 18, 2021
Rosmary’s Witch
A big happy family .. A historian, A dancer and two beautiful kids, moving to a new town, new house .. They needed that house because it’s big one, leaks history .. It’s very old.
That big white house that belonged once to a sad small family, that old family had a girl called Mathilda.
After Mathilda’s family fell apart because of Debts and death .. she disappears to stay in the woods and caves all by herself .. she tries to survive till she becomes a witch .. feeding on hate, darkness, loneliness and injustice.
Mathilda discovers a way to live longer till she becomes a witch that turns 150 on her birthday. All that time .. all she ever wanted was a home! Warmth of a family and not to be alone with darkness and fear in the deep of the woods.
On the other side we have Rosmary .. that kind innocent smart little girl that tries to discover what she wants in her life .. what she wants to be?
The road of the two women cross together. Rosemary tries to find out how Mathilda became like that? A witch !
How that much of darkness is bunched together inside her heart?
At the end .. we will see that that witch did not want to be the way she is .. she just needed a friend .. a company .. a life ..
Also we will know that when we help the others .. we can understand ourselves more and more .. 🖤🌻
3/5
A big happy family .. A historian, A dancer and two beautiful kids, moving to a new town, new house .. They needed that house because it’s big one, leaks history .. It’s very old.
That big white house that belonged once to a sad small family, that old family had a girl called Mathilda.
After Mathilda’s family fell apart because of Debts and death .. she disappears to stay in the woods and caves all by herself .. she tries to survive till she becomes a witch .. feeding on hate, darkness, loneliness and injustice.
Mathilda discovers a way to live longer till she becomes a witch that turns 150 on her birthday. All that time .. all she ever wanted was a home! Warmth of a family and not to be alone with darkness and fear in the deep of the woods.
On the other side we have Rosmary .. that kind innocent smart little girl that tries to discover what she wants in her life .. what she wants to be?
The road of the two women cross together. Rosemary tries to find out how Mathilda became like that? A witch !
How that much of darkness is bunched together inside her heart?
At the end .. we will see that that witch did not want to be the way she is .. she just needed a friend .. a company .. a life ..
Also we will know that when we help the others .. we can understand ourselves more and more .. 🖤🌻
3/5
September 6, 2014
Ann Turner is new to me. I’m thrilled my copy of “Rosemary's Witch” is a first edition. It is narrated dually by a witch and a girl. This fiction portrays the old-fashioned conceptualization of a witch: a crone who is nasty, ugly, and prefers nasty and ugly things in terms of food and beauty. I don’t mind going along with someone’s fairytale. The heart of the matter is touching and uplifting. The witch might approach normalcy again, if warmth is sent her way. Like ‘Gollum’, she had been human.
Rosemary started with a grating trait: severe hesitancy to speak her mind. It is uncalled for in a loving family of eclectic passions and talents; who encourage individuality, creativity, and expressiveness. This was the author’s way to show her protagonist’s growth at the conclusion but inconsistencies struck me as ludicrous. She fears insulting her Father, not present, by having a humorous chat with her Mom about his habits. However she has the gumption to converse with a witch who has demonstrated meanness.
The aspects I enjoyed is that this isn’t general fiction with paranormal flair. I was enticed by the compulsion to solve the mystery of the former owner’s wallpaper and Rosemary goes to work investigating the past. I love the sprightly touch that her Mother is a dancer and all family members but Rosemary are equally identifiable. We segue into the witch’s history and find cruel childhood circumstances. She withered, after being subjected to further unkindness in dire straits. She had to live in a cave, hardened into decrepitude, and made it an angry mission to reclaim her house; the one a new family has bought. Although it incorporates morals and might sound like a coming of age story, it exudes a very good chill factor for its target age.
Rosemary started with a grating trait: severe hesitancy to speak her mind. It is uncalled for in a loving family of eclectic passions and talents; who encourage individuality, creativity, and expressiveness. This was the author’s way to show her protagonist’s growth at the conclusion but inconsistencies struck me as ludicrous. She fears insulting her Father, not present, by having a humorous chat with her Mom about his habits. However she has the gumption to converse with a witch who has demonstrated meanness.
The aspects I enjoyed is that this isn’t general fiction with paranormal flair. I was enticed by the compulsion to solve the mystery of the former owner’s wallpaper and Rosemary goes to work investigating the past. I love the sprightly touch that her Mother is a dancer and all family members but Rosemary are equally identifiable. We segue into the witch’s history and find cruel childhood circumstances. She withered, after being subjected to further unkindness in dire straits. She had to live in a cave, hardened into decrepitude, and made it an angry mission to reclaim her house; the one a new family has bought. Although it incorporates morals and might sound like a coming of age story, it exudes a very good chill factor for its target age.
June 28, 2010
I remember reading this book as a young person. I liked it a lot then. As an adult, it leaves a little to be desired, but that's understandable when I consider the age range that it was written for. The details I would have wanted included would have alienated/bored most young readers.
September 26, 2009
A true gem for little girls! Actively creepy, believable actions on the part of the main characters, and the best kind of ending.
July 30, 2017
It's a little embarrassing to admit that at the age of 58 a book for tweens scared the jeebers out of me, but that is certainly one heck of a compliment to author Ann Turner!
The cover of the book I read had a scared little girl and a scary witch with glowing yellow eyes glaring out at her. Anything with glowing eyes scare me, so kudos to the illustrator!
Nine year old Rosemary and her family, Mom, a dancer, Dad a history professor, brother Nicky, who loves digging for fossils have just moved into a new house, one big enough for Dad's books and Mom's dance studio. Rosemary loves her new bedroom which looks out over the woods.
Then the witch comes calling. She had a sad, lonely, loveless life and now wants the new people out of the house that overlooks her woods.
Mathilda is 149 years. Her hate is fierce. She finds a rotting cabin the woods and roams through town, stealing items to furnish it. Rosemary's expensive new bike is one of the things she steals.
The book is lovely; the words like poetry. Rosemary understands the fear and hurt the witch feels and while scared, she searches for a way to make the witch leave (or be happy) so Rosemary's family can stay in the house they've come to love. The witch sends fog and cold weather in July and an army of toads which terrify Rosemary yet she perseveres.
Ok, yeah, it's a kid book but hey, it's well written, doesn't talk down to kids and like I said, it scared me. Look for it. It's worth it!
The cover of the book I read had a scared little girl and a scary witch with glowing yellow eyes glaring out at her. Anything with glowing eyes scare me, so kudos to the illustrator!
Nine year old Rosemary and her family, Mom, a dancer, Dad a history professor, brother Nicky, who loves digging for fossils have just moved into a new house, one big enough for Dad's books and Mom's dance studio. Rosemary loves her new bedroom which looks out over the woods.
Then the witch comes calling. She had a sad, lonely, loveless life and now wants the new people out of the house that overlooks her woods.
Mathilda is 149 years. Her hate is fierce. She finds a rotting cabin the woods and roams through town, stealing items to furnish it. Rosemary's expensive new bike is one of the things she steals.
The book is lovely; the words like poetry. Rosemary understands the fear and hurt the witch feels and while scared, she searches for a way to make the witch leave (or be happy) so Rosemary's family can stay in the house they've come to love. The witch sends fog and cold weather in July and an army of toads which terrify Rosemary yet she perseveres.
Ok, yeah, it's a kid book but hey, it's well written, doesn't talk down to kids and like I said, it scared me. Look for it. It's worth it!
April 3, 2026
I remember ordering this from a Troll or Tab or Scholastic book order brochure. I was going through a phase where I would read anything supernatural, particularly ghosts. I do remember being unimpressed with this book.
Several decades later, I still agree with my original assessment. Yes, there is a witch. The book alternates between the witch's (Matilda) perspective and that of 9 year old Rosemary. Rosemary and her family have just moved into a beautiful old farmhouse and then strange things start to happen, plus a bunch of stuff goes missing. A few chapters are vignettes from townspeople doing mundane things like eating at the diner or wistfully longing for their missing items.
Rosemary is compassionate and once she realizes there's a witch wreaking havoc, she wants to help her. But the book is just boring for the most part. What does not help is that there is no information on how Matilda became a witch or why she came back to her old stomping grounds, or why she steals some of the stuff she does. The one thing that stood out to me as an adult is the loving family dynamic, particularly that of her dad who is very good-natured and supportive.
Several decades later, I still agree with my original assessment. Yes, there is a witch. The book alternates between the witch's (Matilda) perspective and that of 9 year old Rosemary. Rosemary and her family have just moved into a beautiful old farmhouse and then strange things start to happen, plus a bunch of stuff goes missing. A few chapters are vignettes from townspeople doing mundane things like eating at the diner or wistfully longing for their missing items.
Rosemary is compassionate and once she realizes there's a witch wreaking havoc, she wants to help her. But the book is just boring for the most part. What does not help is that there is no information on how Matilda became a witch or why she came back to her old stomping grounds, or why she steals some of the stuff she does. The one thing that stood out to me as an adult is the loving family dynamic, particularly that of her dad who is very good-natured and supportive.
October 30, 2017
Nice middle grade fiction for the Halloween season or any light horror time. Liked how Rosemary found courage and changed what looked a hopeless situation.
October 10, 2020
I like Halloween stuff as much as the next girl, but this...
January 8, 2013
Great story! Poetic, empathetic, and large. A testament to the power of kindness, and what it really means to feel at home. A winner for any child who has ever felt a little out-of-synch. However, be forewarned - the witch is scary!
May 30, 2010
Its a cute kid book with a good ending. Ann Turner uses a lot of creative similes.
Read
November 4, 2012Keoni said it was "boring him to sleep." So, he passed it along to a friend.
Nexxxt!!
Nexxxt!!
April 18, 2016
Incredibly moving, well written, visceral story. Both for children and adults, I would say. That kind of good.
May 3, 2016
Rosemary tells about moving into an old house. Then the witch fills the next chapter with how upset that someone is moving into her house and she will not tolerate it.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews