Alcatoe and the Turnip Child
Isaac Lenkiewicz
Flying Eye Books

I am a huge fan of vegetables but those grown underground are just not my thing. Nonetheless, I immediately found myself rooting for the Turnip Child in Isaac Lenkiewicz’s magical story told in comic format.

The setting is Plum Woods where spells come alive and witches gather for the Annual Harvest Festival to celebrate the season. Therein among others, resides reclusive Alcatoe the witch who acts as narrator for the tale. There’s also the grumpy Mr Pokeweed, reputedly half goblin who has his eyes firmly set on the main prize at the harvest festival pageant and the local children, three in particular – Emma, Chris and Holly – who are determined to beat him.

Fortunately for them, they come upon a hat belonging to Alcatoe on their way to school and that gives them a perfect reason to visit the witch and enlist her help in growing a prize-winning turnip.

Happily Alcatoe knows just the right ingredients to make magic happen and she wants to get her own back on the one in charge of the pageant; but the three children must gather the items for themselves. Off they go in search of the tail hair of a copycat, the sneeze of a donkey and a chocolate bar.

However, operation champion turnip works just a little too well, astonishingly so for the children.
Can disaster be averted? Perhaps, but only if Alcatoe comes to the rescue – again!

Start with a large amount of creative talent, add several spoonfuls of magic, umpteen vegetables, sprinklings from the condiment containers, drams of determination and the result is one cute character, a fair bit of mayhem and a wonderfully funny, tremendously tasty tale.