Book Review: Bedknob and Broomstick by Mary Norton
I will start off by saying I watched the Disney movie and the book is nothing like it. There are similarities but for the most part it's a completely different plot. The book itself is comprised of two different stories - The Magic Bedknob, and, Bonfires and Broomsticks. Both stories are about the Wilson children - Charles, Carey, and Paul.
Summary: The Magic Bed-Knob
While the three children are staying with their great aunt Beatrice, a local spinster named Miss Price hurts her ankle. The youngest of the siblings, Paul, insists Miss Price was flying on a broomstick and hurt her foot when she fell off it. Aunt Beatrice sends the children over to visit Miss Price with some goodies and well wishes. Paul declares he saw her riding a broomstick and Miss Price debates turning them into animals so they can't tell anyone she's secretly learning witchcraft. The children suggest a compromise - Miss Price gives them something magic in exchange for their silence, and if word of her hobby gets out, their magical object is taken away. Miss Price agrees and puts a spell on a bednob from Aunt Beatrice's house that Paul has been playing with.
The three siblings go on two adventures with their bed - which must be attached to the bedknob to work. Miss Price accompanies them on their second trip.
Summary: The Broomstick
This story opens two years later, after Aunt Beatirce passes away. The children see an advert in the paper from Miss Price offering her home to two school children for summer holidays. The children convince their mother to talk to Miss Price and it is arranged they will spend the summer with her. They arrive, hoping to use magic again, but learn that Miss Price has given it up! After some convincing, she allows them one trip to the past but when they return with a strange young man from the middle ages, Miss Price needs to reconsider her promise to never do magic again.
Thoughts
The story was quite short and enjoyable. There were enough passing similarities to the movie that I had a general mental image of what was happening. I'll say this is one of very few books to which I prefer the movie. The book doesn't have a solid direction; it's merely children exploring. I'm sure if I'd read it as a child, I may have a different opinion. From the movie, I really enjoyed the acknowledgment of World War II during which the Bedknob book was originally published. Of course the movie also has Angela Lansbury who is a delight in everything I've seen her in.
Many of the small things that happened throughout both of the stories do show up in the movie but in a different context. Miss Price uses a spell to make clothing move about like there is a person wearing them - in the book, this is used to rescue someone from being burned at the stake in the Middle Ages; and in the movie, it's used on armor from a museum to create an army to scare off a group of Germans trying to find a good invasion location.
As was with many stories from the mid 20th century and earlier, there are some negative stereotypes toward particular ethnic groups.
I wouldn't say Bedknob and Broomstick is a new favorite, or even that I would reread it, The book is a nice quick, fluffy read about children having a magical adventure on their summer holiday.
