Winnie the Witch facts for kids

Winnie the Witch (also known as Winnie and Wilbur since 2016) is a super popular series of children's picture books. There are nineteen books in the series, all written by Valerie Thomas and illustrated by Korky Paul. Over seven million copies of these books have been sold! They have even been translated into more than 10 different languages.

Because the picture books were so successful, new 'young fiction' books were also created. These Winnie the Witch books were written by Laura Owen, and Korky Paul continued to do the illustrations. There was also an animated TV show based on the books. It was first made for a channel called Milkshake!, but only two special episodes were shown.

The Book Series: Winnie and Wilbur

Quick facts for kids
Winnie the Witch

Author	Valerie Thomas
Illustrator	Korky Paul
Language	English
Genre	Children's literature
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publication date	1987
Pages	32 pages
ISBN	0-19-272683-8
OCLC	67869241

The very first book, Winnie The Witch, came out in 1987. It was so popular that it was printed many times. In 2016, the whole book series got a new name, changing from Winnie The Witch to Winnie and Wilbur.

Valerie Thomas, the author, has worked in education for many years. She taught in schools in both Australia and the UK. Korky Paul, the illustrator, has won awards for his children's book drawings. In 1986, he illustrated his first book for Oxford University Press, which was Winnie the Witch. This book won the Red House Children's Book Award in 1988!

The First Adventure: Winnie The Witch (1987)

In this story, Winnie the witch has a problem: she can't find her black cat, Wilbur, in her black house! Everything is the same color. So, Winnie uses her magic to change Wilbur into different colors. But each new color causes funny accidents and makes Wilbur quite unhappy. In the end, Winnie turns Wilbur back to his original black color. Instead, she decides to change the color of her house!

A Modern Tale: Winnie's New Computer (2003)

Winnie gets her very first computer in this book. It looks a bit like an old iMac computer, but it has a pumpkin on the back instead of an apple! Winnie loves her new computer and spends lots of time online. Wilbur, her cat, gets a bit jealous because Winnie is so busy with her new gadget. She doesn't even let him touch the "mouse"!

Winnie decides she doesn't need her old spell book or magic wand anymore. She thinks all her magic can now happen with a click of the computer mouse! But when Winnie goes to bed, Wilbur gets curious about this "new mouse." The next morning, Winnie wakes up to a big surprise: her cat and her computer are both gone! It turns out she still needs her old magic sometimes. Luckily, she manages to get Wilbur and her computer back. She decides to keep her magic wand and spell book after all!

A Fiery Friend: Winnie's Midnight Dragon (2006)

One night, Winnie and Wilbur are woken up by a baby dragon! The little dragon accidentally sets Winnie's broomstick on fire. Winnie quickly casts a spell to stop the baby dragon from breathing fire. But now, instead of fire, it breathes butterflies! Wilbur and the baby dragon chase the butterflies, causing a lot of mess in Winnie's house.

Winnie chases them up to the roof. She casts a spell to make the moon full and bright. This helps the baby dragon's mother see him from far away. The mother dragon comes to collect her baby, and they fly off into the night. Winnie and Wilbur can finally go back to bed.

Main Characters

• Winnie (voiced by Katy Brand) is a witch who sometimes forgets things.
• Wilbur (voiced by Bill Bailey) is Winnie's loyal black cat.

Television Episodes