The Little House That Needed a Witch, a kind, tender picture book about change that draws influences from Baba Yaga, is Dutch author/illustrator Sophie Pluim's first solo picture book published in the U.S.
The little house sits "deep in the forest" and its witch is "so old even her wrinkles were wrinkled." When the witch walks away and doesn't come back, the house is left "empty and alone." The seasons pass and the house realizes it'll fall down "if no one moves in." So, "creaking and squeaking," it slowly stands up on chicken legs and sets off to find a new witch. The house travels far, asking in every new place if anyone knows of a witch in need of a house. Finally, in a "dark wood," it sees a "small light": the lantern of a witch who needs a house as much as the house needs her.
Pluim (The Runaway Pancake) uses watercolor and ink to create a series of cozy, dreamy, and creepy double-page spreads depicting the little house's search for its next occupant. Pluim's prose (executed by The Slightly Spooky Tale of Fox and Mole translator Polly Lawson) is calm and fluid, creating a growing tension that doesn't feel scary or overwhelming. Pluim draws the house itself in firm, crisp lines that emphasize its role as protagonist, and the endpapers show first the old then the new witch tucked safely inside the house's warm spaces. The Little House That Needed a Witch is a heartwarming adventure and an amusing twist on the concept of finding a forever home. --Michelle Anya Anjirbag, freelance reviewer