The Witch of Maketu is cranky. She has a pen of lambs outside which she intends to eat. But whether they know that or not, they are very noisy all night and she doesn’t get any sleep.

Upset at being robbed of her beauty sleep, she knows she must fix this and come up with a cunning plan.

Aha! She needs to visit her taniwha uncle. He’ll sort them out! But Uncle Hemi has turned over a new leaf and decided that Evil is not for him any longer.

What is a witchy to do!?

I can’t wait to read this picture book out loud to children. It’s so much fun, with pure kiwi humour and characters. There is so much to look at within the uniquely styled illustrations as a cranky witch tries to sort out her noisy lambs.

This isn’t a fluffy story though, as the lambs are openly called kai (food), juicy morsels, tender and scrumptious. But don’t worry – nothing happens to them within the story. In fact they are cared for and then wreak their own revenge on their witchy owner!

I really liked the add-ons to the story, marked with an asterisk which takes your gaze to the bottom of the page. There are sections of rhyme within the story, and a hilarious waiata.

With te reo within text and some kiwi slang, this is a New Zealand story through and through. Having a witchy main character however, opens it up to the rest of the world – and I really hope it does goes far because it’s hilarious. 

Author – Anika Moa

Illustrator – Rebecca Ter Borg

Picture Book

(2024, Penguin Books, Witch, Magic, Animals, Lambs, Wicked, Funny, Humour, Noisy lambs, te reo Māori, Dastardly plan, Fun Read Aloud, Waiata, Taniwha, Knitting, NZ, New Zealand, Aoteroa, Villain, Revenge)