The Little Broomstick

The Little Broomstick / Mary Stewart 
William Morrow, 1972, c1971.
192 p.

This charming children's book by Mary Stewart is redolent with magic. Young Mary Smith is staying with elderly relatives in Shropshire, and is lonely and bored. She goes out to help in the garden some days just for something to do. And one day she follows a mysterious black cate with green eyes and finds a little broomstick. Conveniently for her, Tib the cat had also led her to a rare flower in the woods called a fly-by-night. And all three of these together launch her onto a great adventure. 

Mary flies off, rather wobbily, on her little broomstick. It takes her straight to Endor College, a school for witchcraft where she is quickly enrolled. But she discovers that the spells taught to the students are mean-spirited and tricksy, and the teachers are generally pretty nasty. And then Tib disappears and Mary decides she is going to find him and break whatever mysterious magic is going on here. 

There is some evil experimenting going on, on all the pets and familiars who have arrived with the children. The heads of the school are running it for their own benefit and are trying out all sorts of dark magic. But with her innocence and some fortunate assistance, Mary ends up undoing the spells in one fell swoop, and then fleeing the school. 

The scenes in which she is escaping are exciting and scary. She has to use her wits to figure out how to escape from Endor and the magical landscapes to cross over back to her own world again. She has Tib and his brother cat, and another boy to help her but it's touch and go. This was a well constructed story with appealing characters, both good and bad, as well as the requisite oblivious adults supposed to be taking care of her. Lovely cats, lots of magical magic, and a funny scene with the broomsticks when she arrives at Endor for the first time -- a stableman approving of her old fashioned broom rather than all the new-fangled ones students purchase from the Harrod's catalogue (with descriptions). 

This was a good read, really reflective of many of the 'witchy' books from the 70s that were written for children. This one has great atmosphere, not surprising given the author, and an appealing heroine. Really enjoyed it.