The Widow's Broom

Title: "The Widow's Broom"
Author and Illustrator: Chris Van Allsburg
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company in 1992
Genre: fictional picture book, fantasy
Grade: K-3

This book begins with a witch flying on her broom but her broom lost its power so she fell into Widow Shaw's garden. When the witch wakes up, Widow Shaw is standing over her. Widow Shaw takes the witch into her house and puts her to bed. When the widow gets up the next morning, the witch is gone but she has left her broom with the widow. The broom begins sweeping the kitchen by itself and then the widow teaches the broom to do many other chores around the house. Mr. Spivey, one of Widow Shaw's neighbors, thinks the broom is evil and dangerous so he takes the broom outside and burns it to ashes. Minna Shaw sees the ghost of the broom and tells Mr. Spivey that the broom is carrying a ax and circling his house. The next morning the Spiveys move. The end of the book shows the widow sitting in her chair asleep while the broom she had covered with white paint plays on the piano.

I was very surprised by the end of the book. I really thought it was going to be a type of Halloween story where there really was a ghost involved but to find out it was really just the broom painted white. It was a very entertaining book! I liked the book. I loved the illustrations and how Chris Van Allsburg uses pencil and sketches all the pictures. There were no colors in book, other than the black and white.

I was use this book around Halloween. I would use it to integrate drawings as well as fiction and imagination. I think imagination is an important part to this story. The students have to imagine that there is a witch and a magic broom. I could also have them write a story or draw a picture of what they would have their magic brooms to do.