#456 of 1001 · October 30, 2021

With Halloween nearly upon us, I’m reveling in the grotesque horror of Wee Winnie Witch’s Skinny by Virginia Hamilton and Barry Moser. James Lee knows enough about witch lore to know that his Uncle Big Anthony, who lives next door, is the target of a witch—or, as his Mama Jo puts it, a Wee Winnie. Each night, the fell creature hangs up her skin on the wall, bridles the helpless man, and rides him in an eerie gallop through the sky. She even snatches James Lee out of his house and carries him right along with her. Fortunately, Uncle Big Anthony’s mother-in-law, Mama Granny, comes to the rescue by sprinkling her homemade spice-hot pepper witch-be-gone potion into the hanging skin. When Wee Winnie slips her skin back on, the potion causes her to shrivel up and crack into pieces, which Mama Jo and Mama Granny summarily burn in the hearth. James Lee, though he was certainly afraid of the witch, looks back on his mysterious ride with unabashed pleasure. Hamilton’s writing beautifully conveys the characters’ voices and emphasizes the eldritch terror of the ordeal, particularly in this chilling passage: “The Wee Winnie slowly turned and looked over at James Lee. She must’ve heard him. She took off her bald head and swung it from side to side in Uncle Big Anthony’s window! Her eyes glowed, like the triangles in a candlelit pumpkin.” Moser’s bold, dramatic wood engravings capture both the familiar and the uncanny in the narrative. A note for folklore enthusiasts: for her original narrative, Hamilton drew inspiration from an array of folk beliefs across the African diaspora about witches removing their skin and riding victims at night. #witch #skin #magic #halloween #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks