Lonely little witch Margaret overdoes a friend-summoning spell and ends up with a whole clowder of cats. Soon, an overwhelmed Margaret runs the vacuum to "make [the cats] disappear"--but then finds herself missing her feline friends. All ends happily in a snuggly reunion scene. Understated text heightens the humor of the textured colored-pencil, gouache, and watercolor illustrations, which show a veritable whirlwind of cats wreaking havoc on Margaret's cozy cottage. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

An independent witch who wishes for a playmate gets a little more than she bargained for. Margaret has lots of interests that keep her busy, but sometimes it might be nice to have a friend to share them with. So she adds some extra ingredients to a spell to summon a playmatebut it backfires, producing 12 cats on her doorstop. Taylor's detailed, textured colored-pencil illustrations show all the fun Margaret has with her new pals. But they also show all the trouble they cause: the mess they make, the food they eat, the hair they shed, and oh, the poop! So Margaret takes drastic measures to make them disappear (cat owners will not be surprised at what drives them away) and enjoys some brief alone time before realizing she misses their company. Spells to bring them back fail, and searches are in vain. But then, anticlimactically, she dreams of a spell to retrieve them and finds the cats in her bed when she wakes. Margaret is a childlike witch with light skin, short blondish hair, a purple dress, and a pointed witch's hat. The pages that highlight the cats' antics are the best (imagine the game of Twister!)readers will long for their return along with Margaret. Still, those leaning toward introversion may cringe that there's no compromise between all or nothing. Even independent witches need some companions, but how many is too many? (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

After Margaret, the lonely witch at the center of Taylor's debut, casts a spell to conjure a friend, she finds a dozen feline playmates at her door. The cats settle in, but they refuse to settle down: they play Twister, unwind a roll of toilet paper, hang from a lamp, and overturn paint cans. The mayhem plays out in Taylor's vivid colored-pencil-and-watercolor pictures, which follow Margaret's dwindling glee as she realizes that, though lots of cats means lots of fun, it also means lots of mouths to feed and poop to scoop. Unable to "find magic words to make the cats follow directions," she-in a rather baffling scene-uses a vacuum cleaner to shoo the terrified animals out a window. Margaret enjoys her restored solitude only briefly before she concludes "it wasn't. quite as nice as before," and embarks on a broom ride to find the cats. Instead, they find her, offering a happy reunion to end this tale about the foibles of friendship and magic. Ages 4-8. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Margaret, a small blonde witch in deep purple garb, lives by herself and happily goes about her solitary activities. But every now and then, she feels lonely. Using her bewitching skills, she consults a big red book for the correct concoction that will bring her a friend. Adding a few more ingredients to her cauldron than the recipe calls for, she is surprised and delighted when a dozen cats suddenly appear outside her door. She takes them all in and has fun with her new furry friends until it all becomes a bit too much. After getting the frisky felines to leave, her house becomes peaceful once again, then boring, and then lonely, so she devises several strategies to remedy the situation. Colored pencil, watercolor, and gouache illustrations in bright hues are the highlight of the tale, which comes to a rather abrupt ending. Children will enjoy following the myriad antics of the cats and watching the facial expressions of the bewildered witch and her lively companions.--Maryann Owen Copyright 2018 Booklist