Jan Wahl (1933–2019)

Out gathering firewood on the mountain one evening, Cristóbal encountered the witch Lupita, knitting in a mesquite tree. He continued to meet her as the days passed, and was given a scarf and mittens. Eventually she offered him what he wanted most of all: a burro to help him gather the firewood he had to collect every day. In return, she asked his help in defeating her three wicked sisters, who had exiled her from her home on the top of a nearby mountain. Cristóbal, together with the ruby-red flycatcher, fox and owl that had befriended him, did just that, and all ended happily...

Published in 1972, Cristóbal and the Witch calls to mind a traditional folktale, with its story structure involving the hero who is aided in his quest by the animals he befriends along the way. It is the second witchy picture-book I have read from author Jan Wahl, after his The Teeny Tiny Witches (1979), and the third from illustrator Janet McCaffery, after her own The Swamp Witch (1970) and Mary Calhoun's The Witch of Hissing Hill (1964). The Mexican setting here was no doubt inspired by Wahl's time living in that country, but I found myself wondering whether there were any other specific cultural influences on the story, any known tales upon which it was based. Unfortunately, while I did find Wahl's narrative engaging, appreciating it as a folktale-type story, the artwork from McCaffery was not to my taste at all, preventing me from truly enjoying the book. I tend to have varying reactions to her illustrations, sometimes greatly enjoying them, as I did in The Swamp Witch and in Lee Bennett Hopkins' Hey-How for Halloween!; sometimes being mostly indifferent to them, as in Mary Calhoun's The Witch of Hissing Hill and The Runaway Brownie; and sometimes finding them rather repellant, as with this one. I think she utilizes a variety of different styles, some of which I love, and some of which don't speak to me at all. I didn't care for the color palette here - lots of browns and pinks - and while I could appreciate the folk-art quality of the visuals, I also found them rather rather muddled and unpleasant, in terms of composition. Tastes vary, of course, and others might enjoy these illustrations more more than I did. It is to such readers I would recommend the book, as well as to those looking for vintage picture-books about witches, or featuring a Mexican setting.… (mehr)