The Blue-Nosed Witch by Margaret Embry
Illustrated by Carl Rose
Well, here's the story of a little witch named Blanche who is constantly getting into trouble because of her youth and carefree attitude (re: always arriving late for the meetings). She belongs to an order of responsible, adult witches, and is only a member because of her ability to turn her blue nose on and off!
The Tale begins on the eve of Halloween Night, where the witches have big plans to perform a flight formation later that night. Afraid of being late, Blanche sets her alarm clock extra-early, and, ends up flying out much, much too early for the coven meeting. She meets up with children her own age who teach the young witch how to have fun trick-or-treating on Halloween Night!
I first read Margaret Embry's story of Blanche The Blue Nosed Witch in a "Collier's Junior Classics" Collection entitled "Harvest Of Holidays". I was completely taken in by the imaginative story and the characters you immediately fall in love with. It also has a timeless quality to it that all great stories seem to have: a "Once-upon-a-Time" feeling.
One day browsing the neighborhood Library I came across a bound library copy of The Blue Nosed Witch. As a child it never crossed my mind that the story might have been excerpted from an actual book! Quickly leafing through the pages I discovered to my surprise and excitement that the version I had read in the Collier's Junior Classic series was only an abridged excerpt of a longer, more detail story! Quickly leafing through the pages, I found a complete story chock-full of beautiful illustrations by Carl Rose on almost every page. Oh, the Joy!
Whereas the Collier's version had Blanche getting up to early for the Witches' Meeting and meeting up with kids who take her to one house for treats, in the actual book, Blanche and the kids go on to many more houses and have a few adventures on the way as well! Then when the kids decide it's getting late and go home, Blanche roams around by herself (and her cat Brockett) before realizing that because of all her adventures, she's going to end up being late for the Coven meeting, after all!!
