"Bed-Knob and Broomstick" by Mary Norton

I've never been a big fan of the Disney movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), though I do like the part at the end when they animate all the suits of armor and send them into battle.  I've always wondered if that inspired J. K. Rowling when she was writing the Battle for Hogwarts.  Anyway, I was kind of planning to skip reading this for the Disney Origins Bookclub, since I don't care much for the movie.  But then I saw it was written by Mary Norton, who also wrote The Borrowers, and I love those books, so I decided to give it a try.

I liked this book SO much better than the movie!  It's whimsical and sweet and fun.  It's actually two novellas combined, "The Magic Bed-Knob" and "Bonfires and Broomsticks."  I liked the latter much better than the former, mostly due to the presence of a wannabe wizard from the Middle Ages who was sweet and hapless.  

In "The Magic Bed-Knob," three children discover that a woman who lives near the aunt they're staying with for the summer... is actually a witch in training.  Sort of.  She doesn't do much magic, though she does have a really cool stuffed alligator.  But she can do some, and she enchants a knob from the end of one of their beds so that it will take them wherever and whenever they want.  The children promptly go gallivanting off on small adventures that tend to turn out rather badly... but not TOO badly.  Then they have to go home again to London after the summer is over.

"Bonfires and Broomsticks" concerns a later summer when the children actually go stay with their witchy friend for the summer, expecting more adventures, only to find she's given up trying to be a witch!  She even got rid of her stuffed alligator!  Buuuuuuuuuuuuut she didn't get rid of the bed or the bed-knob, and the children convince her more adventures would totally turn out fine.  Except, of course, they don't.  They bring a wannabe wizard back from the past, who falls in love with their witch friend, and then some rather dire things almost happen back in the middle ages, but don't.  And it all turns out reasonably well.

I really liked that the kids got into trouble when they disobeyed authority figures, but they were also clever and brave and resourceful enough to get through some pretty tense moments on their own.  The magic here is all of the obviously pretend variety, like Harry Potter or the fairy godmother in Cinderella, not teaching young readers how to do magic or anything like that.  It also is shown to be pretty dangerous stuff that really shouldn't be messed around with.

Overall, this gave me quite a few chuckles, and I wouldn't mind rereading it one day.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some dangerous situations and tense moments, including an incident where people almost get eaten by cannibals!

This has been my 37th book read and reviewed for my third Classics Club list.