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Wizzil,
a witch, is bored stiff. So, with some coaxing from Beatrice, her parrot,
she turns herself into a common housefly and heads over to the Frimp farm to
stir up trouble. Little does she know DeWitt Frimp absolutely hates all
breeds of fly, especially Musca domestica, and Wizzil narrowly
escapes a life-threatening swatting. Wasting no time at all, she cooks up
a nasty plan to teach DeWitt a lesson: she turns herself into a glove,
which DeWitt finds and proudly wears, but which also deprives him of the
ability to aim his flyswatter. Steig's playful storytelling voice is in
full gear in his latest tale, and Quentin Blake's hilarious, antic pictures
are a perfect match for the text.
"Though
I've always illustrated my own books, I was not meant to be an
illustrator. I find it unpleasantly difficult to make a character look
like the same guy on different pages. Quentin Blake can do that and
still draw beautifully. I was happy when he agreed to illustrate me,
and I'm flipping with the results."
--William Steig
"For
years I have been looking at the drawings of William Steig with
admiration. I love the Brooklyn small fry, the poetical clowns and
ladies, and the idiosyncratic lives of his children's book characters.
All the products of his imagination have that distinctive Steig
flavor. So that there was something amazing to be invited, out of the
blue, to collaborate with someone who is, for me, one of the living
national monuments of the U.S.A. Not only that, but it's enjoyable. How
lucky can you get?"
--Quentin Blake
Reviews Booklist-
*starred review
"Wonderfully energetic and funny . . . Like Wizzil, readers need
never be bored again."
The Horn Book -
*starred review
"Old Wizzil the witch's hair sticks up from her head in unkempt spikes;
her chosen victim, retired farmer DeWitt Frimp, is bald; but both
author and illustrator have let their hair down for this tale of
mischief, revenge, and redemption. Bored Wizzil turns herself into a
fly to torment DeWitt, but when he almost swats her (he hates flies,
and swatting them is his main pleasure in life), Wizzil,
'resolved on revenge,' turns herself into his work glove,
spoiling his aim. 'He'd swing and he'd swat, and he'd hear the
swatter swoosh, but Wizzil just jerked his arm a tad to this side or a
tad to that side . . . no soap!' Steig's language is utterly
unfettered, with alliteration so thick you could spread it, and packed
with savory words and phrases such as culprit and kibitz
and happy harpy and bald-headed fuddy-dud. In short, Wizzil
is literary ambrosia. Blake's pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations,
full of energy and humor and movement (particularly when depicting
DeWitt swishing his swatter), are sublime. Check out the dead,
stiff-legged frog on a plate by Wizzil's bed; DeWitt's beer-bellied
son Fred balletically balancing on one foot as he tries to scratch the
'unbearable itches in unexpected places' Wizzil inflicts on
all the Frimps: or Wizzil and DeWitt gazing goofily at each other
after all her 'vicious nastiness' is washed away and they
fall in love. Kids are likely to groan at the resolution, but feisty
Beatrice the parrot has the last word, and manages to counteract some
of the icky lovey-dovey stuff: 'I guess I'll have to stay here
with these humdrum humans,' she says. 'It'll be a whole new
hayride.' "
Publishers Weekly
"Two masters of children's literature turn in an amiable . .
. performance in this madcap witch story."
School Library Journal
"[A] good-natured tale of transformation and rebirth."
Kirkus Reviews
"These two are masters of this genre and together they are
unstoppable. Sophisticated, they are never over the heads of the children
and the adults who will enjoy, Wizzil, together."
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's
Books
"Steig's humor is pretty irresistible." |
