Changes

The core story is a familiar one: acceptance, understanding and appreciating one's differences. It's a useful, but not heavy-handed message that will interest and inform young children. The witchcraft setting means that familiar though it is, it's not boring. Trixie is an a sweet character, without being unbearable cutesy. Her initial plans for hiding her white paw are very amusing; there are more than a few sniggers throughout.

Nick Butterworth's illustrations are very gentle. They capture the excitement of the spooky setting, but are a million miles away from being scary, which is the perfect tone for the young audience. Cats always look great in picture books, but Trixie has a real range of emotions which children will love awwwing aww-ing over. You'll wish you could stroke her. If being ultra-picky, I'd have liked a bit more going on in the background, just because witchy scenes are always great fun to pore over.

There's a little more text than in the average picture book, making ''Trixie The Witch's Cat'' ideal for children on the cusp of reading themselves. The vocabulary is clear enough for any young children to enjoy, so no-one needs to feel left out. With Halloween just round around the corner, it'll make a perfect addition to your bookshelves.

For more spooky (but not scary) fun, check out [[Winnie's Amazing Pumpkin by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul]] and [[The Witch's Children Go to School by Ursula Jones and Russell Ayto]]. We also enjoyed Butterworth's [[Tigerbear by Steve Webb and Katharine McEwen|Tigerbear]].