2021
In the background, I'm reading a literary novel, but I wanted a little break, and Little Witch Hazel was a brief, gentle change of pace.
Hazel's size and peaked red hat make her look a bit like a classical gnome. She lives in the forest in a tree-stump cottage, has a garden of herbs and mushrooms, and goes out foraging with a basket on her back. The forest is occupied by talking moles and mice and the like, as well as elves and pixies and such.
This is a children's picture book with four short stories that cover the four seasons. The stories are free from conflict and have only the smallest amounts of negative emotion to create narrative tension. The art is simple but nice, with a restrained palette of dark green, blue, black, red, brown, and tan, plus white. The style looks like hand-drawing with pastels. I liked this book okay, but I'm sure there are people who love it.
In the spring, Hazel finds an owl egg and raises the baby owl until it can fly away.
In the summer, Hazel wants to run errands, but everyone else is relaxing, so she lets herself be persuaded to relax too.
In the fall, everyone hears a scary moaning noise, and everyone has their own theory about what's causing it. Hazels goes to investigate, and meets a new neighbor, who's just lonely, so Hazel makes them feel welcome.
In the winter, Hazel goes out visitig her sick neighbors, then gets caught in a snow storm on the way home. But someone she helped in a previous story returns the favor by helping her get home safely.
There's not really a consistent theme to the stories- in the summer, Hazel needed to listen to her friends instead of staying grumpy, in the fall, it was good that she was braver than the others, but in the winter, she should've been more afraid of the weather. But Hazel does model a cozy, cottagecore dream life, and she is generally rewarded for engaging with her neighbors and helping other members of the community.
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