Nostalgia Read: Bedknob and Broomstick

Bedknob and Broomstick
Author: Mary  Norton

I loved the Disney version of this story as a child. I always wanted to read the stories, but never got it done. So many books....so many years....so much time and yet so little. Know what I mean? But...I was searching for a book on the shelves at the library recently and this title just jumped out at me! I had to check it out and FINALLY read the story that inspired the movie.

Bedknob and Broomstick combines two stories by Mary Norton: The Magic Bed-knob (or how to become a witch in 10 easy lessons) and Bonfires and Broomsticks. The movie kept the feel of the original story with Eglantine being an inexperienced witch, but the story is vastly different. There are no dancing suits of armor or dastardly, sneaky Nazis hiding in the bushes. In the book, the three children are sent to stay with an aunt in Bedfordshire where they meet Miss Price. They learn that she is an apprentice witch and ready to study more advanced magic. In return for keeping her secret, Miss Price enchants a bed-knob for them. All they have to do is put the magic bed-knob on any bed and give it a twist. They can travel anywhere, or to anytime, at the speed of magic. Through the two stories, the children and Miss Price, have some great adventures!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! In my mind, Eglantine looked and sounded like Angela Lansbury. :) I still love the movie version, but also enjoyed the differences in the characters and situations in the book.  As I read the last few words, I shut the book with a smile and good feeling in my soul. Another one scratched off the reading bucket list....and it was a great read! :)

Mary Norton also wrote The Borrowers series.

Because I loved her performance in the movie....here's a little Angela Lansbury from Bedknobs and Broomsticks.   (I do wonder though why Disney can't make a movie that actually follows the book?? I suppose Nazis and dancing armor is more exciting than cannibals, desert islands and public burnings at the stake  [read the book to find out!]....but, the book was grand the way it was! However.....Angela Lansbury was phenomenal in the part of Eglantine, even if Disney did take huge liberties with the story.) And....in the book Eglantine does use a spell to make inanimate objects move, but she calls it intrasubstantiary-locomotion. :)