“Deep in the forest sat a little house. The witch who lived in the house was very old. She was so old even her wrinkles were wrinkled. But one day she went for a walk and never returned.”

So starts The Little House That Needed a Witch, a whimsically charming picture book for readers age 4-8 about an anthropomorphic house. Left alone after its resident witch  “becomes part of the forest,” the house remains empty all winter. (For those readers who wonder what that might mean, the illustrations show a witch-shaped leafless tree on the next page.) As the seasons pass, grass grows “high around its walls,” vines climb up its porch, and mushrooms pop out of its roof.

“If no one moves in, I’ll fall down, it thought.”

And so, in a Baba-Yaga-like but friendly manner, the house stands up on chicken legs and roams around, trying to find a new witch to dwell in its rooms. The little house goes north, east, south, and west, always just a few steps behind “a young witch with curly brown hair.” Finally, the two meet up on a cold, dark wintry night. They first have to get used to each other, but “as soon as a fire was lit in the stove, they each felt much warmer and brighter inside.” Together they travel back to the house’s forest, “happy that they had both found just what they needed.”

The Little House That Needed a Witch is a sweet, satisfying story about finding someone special to love and belong to–and as such, it’s already a beautiful picture book. The lush watercolor-and-ink illustrations, though, move it into the category of marvelous and worth revisiting again and again. From the interior views of the house and its chicken legs to the landscape it traverses and the wildlife it passes, the illustrations are detailed and delightful.

Instead of rhapsodizing for several paragraphs about all those oh, so delightful details, however, I suggest you find this engaging fairytale and slowly peruse its pages. I’d be willing to wager that within a minute or two, readers both young and old will find themselves entranced and hooked by this wonderful picture book.

The Little House That Needed a Witch
Written and illustrated by Sophie Plium
Translated from the Dutch by Polly Lawson
ISBN: : 9781459835085
Upcoming Sept. 15, 2026, Floris Books

Reviews: Kirkus; Horn Book (starred review)

You can buy a copy here* or find a copy of it at a library.

*Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission at no cost to you. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Award-winning opera singer and podcast host Nanette McGuinness is the translator of over 150 books and graphic novels for children and adults from French, Italian, German and Spanish into English, including the much-loved Geronimo Stilton Graphic Novels, as well as Tiki: A Very Ruff Year (nominated for the 2023 Eisner and Harvey Awards) and Alice on the Run: One Child’s Journey Through the Rwandan Civil War (2023 GLLI YA Translated Book Prize Honor Book, 2023 Mosaic Prize winner, 2023 Excellence in Graphic Literature Finalist and 2023 Harvey Award nominee). Accolades have also gone to her translations of Up in the Blue Sky: Journey from the Earth’s Surface to Outer Space (2025 Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection), Ellie in First Position (2024 ALA Top Ten Graphic Novels for Children; Texas Library Association’s Little Maverick graphic novel reading list), Magical History Tour: Vikings and Magical History Tour: Gandhi (both 2023 Excellence in Graphic Literature Finalists), Luisa: Now and Then (2019 Stonewall Honor Book; 2020 GLLI YA Translated Honor Book; YALSA’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens in 2019) and California Dreamin’: Cass Elliot Before the Mamas & the Papas (2018 Harvey Award; YALSA’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens in 2018).