Youth magazine editor and author Martine Allars introduces three sisters with supernatural powers in the first book in a new trilogy for tweens, The Littlest Witch (PanMacmillan, 2010). Filled with adventure, humour and sibling rivalry, The Littlest Witch is a fantasy novel combining quirky characters and otherworld drama.
The Littlest Witch – Plot Summary
Triplets Gwen, Nel and Rain are always on the move. Their father never seems to stay in one place for too long. The day before the girls’ thirteenth birthday they move once again, this time to Jamestown to live in the house of an aunt they never knew that they had.
Gwen has long been frustrated with the way her father refuses to answer questions about their family or past. On their thirteenth birthday, Gwen and her sisters finally learn the truth. The girls discover that their family isn’t at all like the others they have met in their travels. Book-worm Gwen discovers that she is actually a witch, fashionista Rain is a vampire and animal-loving Nel is really an elf.
As a threat from their magical homeland threatens their safety, the girls must find a way to balance their everyday life and their new magical responsibilities. With mean teachers, new friends that aren’t quite what they seem and magical skills to learn and master, the girls start to fight amongst themselves and forget that there is a powerful enemy waiting for them to make a mistake. The sisters need to learn to harness their power and work together if they want to survive.
A Fantasy Story for Tweens
Despite the cartoonish cover illustration, The Littlest Witch has far more in common with teen and adult fantasy than it does with light-hearted young reader magical novels such as the Rainbow Magic or Magic Ballerina series.
Filled with humour and quirky characters, The Littlest Witch also has an element of real menace in the magical forces that try to reach the girls from their homeworld of Ethra. The evil witch Driath is seeking to kill the sisters so that she can harness their powers and prevent a prophesy concerning the girls from coming true.
The girls each possess powers that they must learn to control and use. The first novel in the trilogy focuses particularly on Gwen as she learns to read minds and develop her control over the element of water. Throughout the novel, there are other characters that are at times possessed, threatened by evil spirits or used to blackmail Gwen into submitting to Driath’s demands.
Martine Allars manages to work modern mythology concerning witches, vampires, shape-changers and other mythical creatures into the story well, and despite some of the darker themes, she maintains a balance of lighter tween issues with demanding teachers, homework assignments and trivial sibling arguments.
Australian Author Martine Allars
Author Martine Allars has a long association with the audience for her novel, both in her current role as editor of Disney Girl and as ex-editor of Barbie Magazine. She has always loved to write, sending her first story off to a publisher when she was only eight years old.
Allars is currently working on the second book in The Littlest Witch trilogy.
First Book in The Littlest Witch Trilogy
Tween readers with an interest in the fantasy genre, particularly girls, will enjoy The Littlest Witch and will no doubt look forward to the coming novels focussed on Gwen’s sisters Rain and Nel.
The Littlest Witch is an enjoyable easy-read novel for tweens interested in fantasy novels without the romantic or relationship issues present in YA novels in this genre.
- The Littlest Witch #1 (ISBN: 978-0-330-42357-1, 310 pages)
Join the Conversation