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Summary
Summary
"I would like to declare Diana Wynne Jones an international treasure," proclaimed Neil Gaiman, Newbery Medalist and best-selling author. In this enchanting introduction to Diana Wynne Jones's magical and funny work, Earwig is a fearless young orphan. When she finds herself in a house of dark magic, she does whatever she can to adapt--especially if it means that she'll learn a little magic herself! A young middle grade novel by World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement‒winner Diana Wynne Jones, beautifully illustrated in black and white by Caldecott Medalist Paul O. Zelinsky.
Not every orphan would love living at St. Morwald's Home for Children, but Earwig does. She gets whatever she wants, whenever she wants it, and it's been that way since she was dropped on the orphanage doorstep as a baby. But all that changes the day Bella Yaga and the Mandrake come to St. Morwald's, disguised as foster parents. Earwig is whisked off to their mysterious house full of invisible rooms, potions, and spell books, with magic around every corner. Most children would run in terror from a house like that . . . but not Earwig. Using her own cleverness--with a lot of help from a talking cat--she decides to show the witch who's boss.
Author Notes
Diana Wynne Jones was born in London on August 16, 1934. In 1953, she began school at St. Anne's College Oxford and attended lectures by J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. After graduation, she created plays for children that were performed at the London Arts Theatre. Her first book was published in 1973. She wrote over 40 books during her lifetime including Dark Lord of Derkholm, Earwig and the Witch, and the Chrestomanci series. She won numerous awards including the Guardian Award for Children's Books in 1977 for Charmed Life, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in 1984 for Archer's Goon, the Mythopeic Award in 1999, the Karl Edward Wagner Award in 1999, and the Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Organization in 2007. Her book Howl's Moving Castle was adapted into an animated film by director Hayao Miyazaki, and the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. She died from lung cancer on March 26, 2011 at the age of 76.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-Earwig is a most unusual girl. As a baby, she arrived at St. Morwald's Orphanage under mysterious circumstances. Since then, she has possessed a strange affinity for making the staff do exactly what she wants-from preparing her favorite meals to buying her new clothes. For this reason, Earwig goes out of her way to avoid being adopted. Then comes the fateful day Bella Yaga, accompanied by Mandrake, her sinister shape-shifting sidekick, arrives at St. Morwald's and takes Earwig to do her grunt work. Slave duty doesn't even come with magic lessons. But with the help of Thomas, a feline familiar, Earwig outsmarts the witch in a most ironic way. And before long, she has both Bella Yaga and Mandrake under her control. This appears to have been the first in a charming new series, cut short by the author's untimely passing in 2011. Earwig is a plucky, albeit bossy, heroine, and the story is packed with wit and humor. Zelinsky's illustrations enhance this imaginative tale.-Alissa J. LeMerise, Oxford Public Library, MI (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
This funny story updates fairy tale conventions while highlighting Jones's subversive wit and her firm belief that children can control their own lives. Earwig rules the roost at St. Morwald's Home for Children until she is adopted by a witchy woman named Bella Yaga with "one brown eye and one blue one, and a raggety, ribby look to her face." Earwig hopes to learn magic from Bella Yaga, but is trapped in the woman's decrepit house, sharing it with the Mandrake, an impossibly tall and grouchy being. Powerful and evil, Bella Yaga uses Earwig as a second pair of hands for grinding up disgusting things in bowls ("The only thing wrong with magic is that it smells so awful," Earwig quips). The witch and the Mandrake, however, have never before dealt with a determined girl who claims alpha status; Zelinsky's spot art, not all seen by PW, makes it clear that the squinty, pigtailed heroine is not someone to be trifled with. Featuring delightfully odd characters and eccentric magic, this all too brief tale is a fine introduction to the late author's more complex YA novels. Ages 8-12. Agent: Laura Cecil. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.