The Witch Family

The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes, 1960. Amy and Clarissa are best friends. They’re about 7 years old and live in Washington, DC. They like to draw pictures and play games of imagination, and one day, they banish Old Witch, who is the head of all the witches, to a house on a glass hill by drawing a picture of the Witch House on the glass hill. They banish her to the hill for her meanness and for eating rabbits (her favorite food), but they relent a little when they consider that Halloween won’t be the same without a scary old witch. Amy writes a letter to Old Witch to tell her that, if she can learn to be good, she can leave the glass hill on Halloween. As soon as Amy is done writing the letter, a bird snatches it up and flies away with it, to the amazement of the girls. Amy is sure that this must mean that the letter will really be delivered to the Old Witch. Old Witch doesn’t like living on the glass hill because it’s too bare and shiny, and she doesn’t want to learn to be good.…