Eugenie (1899–1961)

A naughty little princess named Gwendal makes a general nuisance of herself in this sweet fairy-tale from 1968, bullying the servants and dressing up as a witch. One Halloween, a real witch mistakes her for one of her own kind, and whisks her away to the Wicked Witches Kingdom. Here Gwendal becomes Wickedishrag - so named because her duties include washing the witches' dishes - and begins her life as an apprentice witch. Learning to cast a spell, fly a broomstick, and haunt a house, she is content at first, but the charm eventually wears off. When the witches realize that Wickedishrag is no witch, but a girl in disguise, our heroine returns home, only to discover that her fake witch's nose won't come off, and no one recognizes her. Is it too late for her to become Gwendal again...?

Pairing a sweetly engaging story with cute illustrations, Wickedishrag is a fun little book - it really is quite small, being just slightly larger than the palm of my hand - and appeals to my love of witchy tales. If I had discovered it as a girl, it would most likely have been a personal favorite. The story is an interesting inversion of one I have seen in other witchy tales, where a little witch doesn't want to be a witch at all, and ends up being a fairy or a princess. Ida DeLage's Weeny Witch and Nurit Karlin's The Tooth Witch would be examples of this type of tale. In author/illustrator Eugenie's story, on the other hand, we see a princess who becomes a witch, at least for a time. The ending feels a little on the nose, when it comes to the moral message, but on the other hand, Gwendal's prior behavior really was obnoxious, particularly as it related to her treatment of her servants, so I enjoyed seeing her put to work in the royal kitchens. The illustrations alternate between black-and-white line drawings and those done in color, and are quite lovely. I'm glad to have tracked this one down, given my love of witchy picture-books, and only wish that Eugenie - a pseudonym, perhaps? - had done more in this vein. Recommended to young fairy-tale lovers, and to picture-book readers who enjoy witchy fare.… (mer)