Broomsticks Don’t Strike Me as Comfortable.

Room on the Broom
Written by Julia Donaldson & Illustrated by Axel Scheffler
Age Level: 3-7 Years
Published August 25, 2003

I could really use a second set of eyes here.

Getting out of the house with two kids was always a debacle, but it’s next level with the pandemic. In addition to the normal stuff, we all need masks, and buckets of hand sanitizer, and the kids need backup masks for when they inevitably drop one and then run over it with their scooters. Also, we used to run like a well oiled machine, but now that we barely go anywhere, our exits are rusty.

Basically, when I read Room on the Broom these days, I want to tell the haphazard witch, “I see you. I feel you.” She’s riding around on her broom trying to have a good time, but she keeps losing things: her hat flies off in the wind, her bow comes out of her hair, she drops her wand, etc. Fortunately, she has a string of eager animal helpers who, like my two littles, help her find her belongings so she can get back on her way.

“Then all of a sudden from out of a pond
Leaped a dripping wet frog with a dripping wet wand.”

Each animal asks if they can join the witch and her cat on the broom. Without hesitation, our kind and bighearted witch always says yes, no matter how crowded it gets. Eventually, the overloaded broom snaps in two, but it just provides the opportunity for the witch to build a new and improved version that better accommodates everybody.

Author Julia Donaldson (best known for The Gruffalo) showcases her signature punchy rhyming cadence, making this book a super fun read-aloud. And I always appreciate how seamlessly she incorporates positive messages - like always making room for one more! - into her stories while keeping things perfectly playful and fun. Now if only I could figure out how to be less like the witch and get my $h!t together!

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