Four Kids, Three Cats, Two Cows, One Witch (maybe) by
Siobhan Parkinson
Reviewed by Shannon Library Children’s Book Club
This
story begins when Beverly notices a small island as she’s
walking along the beach during a holiday at a seaside town with
her parents. She decides to take a trip there and explore. She ends
up bringing three others with her, Kevin, Elizabeth and Gerard and
his cat – Fat. Beverly is the leader of the group and organises
lots of supplies for their picnic. They walk over to the island
when the tide is low.
From
the moment they get there, they have a weird feeling about the place.
Kevin is a local boy and he knows that a strange woman lives on
the island. They each tell an elaborate story while they’re
on the island but they can’t understand how they thought them
up.
Things
start to go wrong when the kids separate; Elizabeth twists her ankle
and they loose their supplies. They decide they must go for help
to the only house on the island. There they meet Dymphna. At first
they are scared of her, she acts in a crazy manner but they soon
realise that she is harmless and they become friendly. She cures
Elizabeth’s ankle although the kids can’t understand
how she did it, it’s like magic. At the end of the day they
have a feast and Dymphna helps them get home by lending them her
boat.
We
really liked this book. It’s a good adventure and the stories
the kids tell are really interesting and a good break from the main
story. We liked the characters in the book, especially Gerard and
his big cat called Fat.
We
didn’t like it that we never found out if Dymphna was really
a witch or why the kids told all the stories. It was a bit of an
anticlimax when the kids actually met Dymphna. Some members of the
group did not like Beverly. They thought she was a very bossy and
annoying character.
Overall
we would give these books marks seven and a half out of ten.
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