Books › Earwig and the witch
Earwig and the witch
224 pages
A cheeky, unsentimental romp about a fiercely stubborn child who decides to boss around the monsters under the bed.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sharing a secret joke with the smartest, most mischievous kid in the room. It moves at a brisk, energetic clip, propelled by a protagonist who refuses to be a victim of her spooky circumstances. Instead of dread, the atmosphere is soaked in a cozy, chaotic kind of magic, where terrifying witches and grumpy demons are simply obstacles to be outsmarted. The prose is wonderfully dry and unsentimental, stripping away the usual saccharine tropes of orphan stories in favor of sharp wit and subversive charm. It is a delightfully empowering experience, perfect for anyone who loves a story where the child is the one pulling the strings, turning a house of horrors into a home on her own uncompromising terms.
- Mood
- mischievous
- cozy-spooky
- chaotic
- Tone
- wry
- cheeky
- subversive
- unsentimental
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- subverting authority · unconventional found family · the power of stubbornness · childhood autonomy
- The writing
- Crisp and unsentimental, laced with a dry, matter-of-fact wit that refuses to talk down to its audience.
- The arc
- A journey of unwavering self-assurance, as a fiercely independent child bends a terrifying new world to her own will.
- Who it's for
- Readers who delight in clever, unapologetically bossy protagonists and magical worlds where adults are delightfully fallible.
Content notes
- foster care/orphan themes
- mild spooky elements
About the book
Although an orphan, Earwig has always enjoyed living at St. Morwald's, where she manages to make everyone do her bidding, but when she is taken in by a foster parents who are actually a witch and a demon, she has a hard time trying to turn the situation to her advantage.
Description from Open Library.
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