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Aug 09, 2014vmccreedy rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Earwig was left on the door of St. Morwald's Home for Children when she was still a baby, with a note saying, "Got the other twelve witches all chasing me. I'll be back for her when I've shook them off. It may take years. Her name is Earwig". If you think, "oh, poor little girl. This is probably a story about how she escapes from a horrible orphanage..." Well, you couldn't be more wrong. Earwig loves the orphanage. It's clean, people are nice, she's got a great friend Custard, and somehow everyone does exactly what she wants. In fact, she wants to live her whole life there so much that every time some couple comes in to adopt a child, she'll make her ugliest, most unfriendliest face ever so the potential foster parents will turn away in disgust. But this time, it didn't work. A strange looking woman, who called herself Bella Yaga, and Mandrake, a skinny man who seems to grow taller everytime you stare at him, came, took a look and decided to take Earwig home! How will Earwig escape her new home to get back to the orphanage? This is one of Diana Wynne Jones' last novels. The easy chapter book features the same quirky humour and magic, and the illustrations are perfect for the story. Love the little spider and the crows that decorate the pages. Earwig befriends Thomas, Bella Yaga's talking cat, and together they make a fine pair.