K-Gr 4 In Stevenson's familiar watercolor-washed cartoon format, Emma's animal friends plead with her not to invite mean witches Dolores and Lavinia to their Thanksgiving celebration. Although surprised by the witches' invitation to come to their house for Thanksgiving, the group is even more surprised after they clean the house and receive no dinner. Disgruntled but not disheartened, the band sets off to prepare their own dinner. Learning of the witches' plan to crash their party, Emma and friends lay a trap and scare off Dolores and Lavinia from their feast. Older students will enjoy reading the cartoon format, while younger students will love sharing the story frame by frame, with the pictures almost telling the story by themselves. This rib-tickling tale will delight all who share in its lighthearted fun, whether at Thanksgiving, Halloween, or all year round. Cathy Woodward, Lima City Schools, Ohio (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Trying to exorcise post-Halloween doldrums, mean witches Dolores and Lavinia trick nice little witch Emma and her animal friends into cleaning up their houses and washing last Thanksgiving's dishes; but when they also try to snitch Emma's Thanksgiving dinner, the tables are turned: they're put to broomstick flight by Emma's friends, disguised as a giant turkey. New Yorker cartoonist Stevenson has done several picture books distinguished by their dry wit, rambunctious action, and facile draftsmanship. Successive books seem to become more slapdash and scribbly; this one is strongly reminiscent of Saturday morning TV, although Stevenson's gift for conveying emotion with a few deft lines is undiminished. Children will be satisfied with the green-faced meanies' comeuppance. With a shortage of good Thanksgiving stories, this does fill a need. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Dolores and Lavinia, those witches from Emma and Yuck! are sitting around, beefing about the fact that, once again, Halloween has come and gone (``It's a terrible let down, Lavinia!''). Emma, meanwhile, is planning a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. She has a guest list;``Marsha could be persuaded,'' ``Calvin would be delighted'' and ``Horace has no plans'' are among the verbal R.S.V.P.s. No one wants to invite Dolores and Lavinia. Then the two witches trick everyone into cleaning their home on Turkey Day, but kick Emma et. al out before the first course. They plan to steal Emma's dinner, but the small witch has cooked up her own plan; even though she can't do magic, she and the animals make it look as if she can conjure up cranberry storms and shrink or enlarge turkeys. Lavinia and Dolores, frightened by any magic but their own, fly off into the setting sun while Emma and her friends feast. Each twist of the story is more surprising than the last, until that final festive endingjust when you think you know what's next, Stevenson turns the Thanksgiving tables. A jolly find. (5-8) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Ages 5-7. Delores and Lavinia, two green-faced witches, are eager for a Thanksgiving Day feast, but they're unwilling to make it themselves. Little Emma Witch seems a likely candidate to trick into doing it for them. At the duo's invitation Emma and her animal friends show up, where they are given a number of chores to do but no food. Later, Delores and Lavinia decide to follow Emma and friends home to horn in on their dinner, but Emma has wised up and pulls a few tricks out of her pointy hat, giving Dolores and Lavinia the comeuppance they well deserve. This is typical Stevenson scrawled line drawings colored with wash and cartoon-type dialogue. A few twists and some funny moments combined with its holiday topicality make this a likable choice. IC. Witches Fiction / Thanksgiving Fiction [CIP] 86-3100