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A review by turrean
The Little Leftover Witch by Florence Laughlin
4.0
Sweet little old-fashioned chapter book about a family who takes in a little lost witch. Yes, at times it slips toward the saccharine, and the story is definitely dated. But for the most part, this is just a nice story about the power of love.
Some readers seem to take issue with how Felina is changed, seeing this as a kind of brainwashing or repression of her interesting differences. Certainly a more skilled author would have spent time showing how the family changed, too. But this story is not one about a child from a different culture who is repressed into our society's modes of behavior. It isn't about culture at all--the author never shows us what the witches' society is like because it doesn't matter. It just represents Felina's inability to be part of a normal family. (I grant you, that's "normal" for 1960.) The story is part of the family of stories of children damaged and distanced by their early experiences, who are accepted, loved, and taught to be part of society again. Think of [b:Understood Betsy|347151|Understood Betsy|Dorothy Canfield Fisher|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1245261923s/347151.jpg|3234038], [b:The Good Master|258038|The Good Master |Kate Seredy|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347518127s/258038.jpg|250092], [b:The Secret Garden|2998|The Secret Garden|Frances Hodgson Burnett|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327873635s/2998.jpg|3186437], etc.
(BTW this story is the OPPOSITE of the trope about the repressed people who take in the orphaned stranger, and find they are changed by the child, instead of the other way around. [b:Anne of Green Gables|8127|Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)|L.M. Montgomery|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309203168s/8127.jpg|3464264] changes Marilla far more than Marilla "civilizes" her; [b:Heidi|93|Heidi (Kingfisher Classics)|Johanna Spyri|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312041159s/93.jpg|1738595] opens her grandfather's heart to love and friendship again.)
Some readers seem to take issue with how Felina is changed, seeing this as a kind of brainwashing or repression of her interesting differences. Certainly a more skilled author would have spent time showing how the family changed, too. But this story is not one about a child from a different culture who is repressed into our society's modes of behavior. It isn't about culture at all--the author never shows us what the witches' society is like because it doesn't matter. It just represents Felina's inability to be part of a normal family. (I grant you, that's "normal" for 1960.) The story is part of the family of stories of children damaged and distanced by their early experiences, who are accepted, loved, and taught to be part of society again. Think of [b:Understood Betsy|347151|Understood Betsy|Dorothy Canfield Fisher|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1245261923s/347151.jpg|3234038], [b:The Good Master|258038|The Good Master |Kate Seredy|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347518127s/258038.jpg|250092], [b:The Secret Garden|2998|The Secret Garden|Frances Hodgson Burnett|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327873635s/2998.jpg|3186437], etc.
(BTW this story is the OPPOSITE of the trope about the repressed people who take in the orphaned stranger, and find they are changed by the child, instead of the other way around. [b:Anne of Green Gables|8127|Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)|L.M. Montgomery|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309203168s/8127.jpg|3464264] changes Marilla far more than Marilla "civilizes" her; [b:Heidi|93|Heidi (Kingfisher Classics)|Johanna Spyri|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312041159s/93.jpg|1738595] opens her grandfather's heart to love and friendship again.)