Tongue-twisters abound in this quirky tale of twin siblings Willie and Winnie, who wish for excitement one windy day, and find themselves transported to the windmill of Wilma, the Wicked Witch. Here they find themselves in danger of being turned into Swiss Cheese, until they wish again, and find a helper in the form of Winston, the Witty Wizard. This magical practitioner comes to their aid, transforming Wilma into a not-so-wicked witch, and the twins then wish themselves home. Willie thinks they ought to refrain from wishing in the future, but wise Winnie opines that when they next wish, they should simply include Witty Winston in their calculations...

Published in 1967, Willie & Winnie & Wilma, The Wicked Witch was part of publisher Franklin Watts' See and Say Sounds Series - other titles include Blueberry the Bloodhound and Limpy the Lion - which featured easy-reading stories emphasizing the use of a specific letter combination. Here that combination is "wi," and words beginning with these two letter abound in the text, leading to some rather fun read-aloud shenanigans. I initially sought this one out because of its theme - witchy picture-books are a pet project of mine - but I did not have particularly high expectations of it. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised, finding the text from David C. Whitney lots of fun, and the artwork from Abner Graboff oddly appealing. I say oddly, because the style here - black and white drawings, enhanced by washes in a single color (green), with lots of white (or green) space on the page - is not usually to my taste. Here however, it just seems to work, complementing the oddball nature of the tale it accompanies. My favorite scene, visually speaking, was the final shot of Willie and Winnie, in their armchairs, considering the adventure they'd just had. Graboff uses collage here, with the chairs being created out of clippings from some kind of Hebrew (or perhaps Yiddish) text. I'm not sure that this one would have much appeal for today's children, given the fact that reading instruction has moved on, since its time of publication, but for readers interested in vintage picture-book/early-readers, it might have some interest. Those who love tongue-twisters might also want to seek it out. ( )