If Your Babysitter Is a Bruja

June 17, 2022

PreS-Gr 2-A young girl's imagination turns her experience with a new babysitter into something fun and spooky in this bilingual picture book. Halloween approaches, and a young girl gives advice to readers on what to look out for if they're spending a night with a new babysitter. She might arrive with a spooky dress and sombrero, she might cackle and throw you in her bubbling cauldron. As the little girl runs from the witch, readers will enjoy seeing the various activities they both enjoy and the way the little girl's imagination transforms them, from playing outside to taking a bath, to having a late night snack. As the night comes to an end, the little girl has enjoyed herself tremendously. The fun illustrations are a mix of spooky Halloween colors and bright vibrant shades, and the lyrical text with Spanish words and phrases sprinkled throughout make this a perfect choice for all occasions. VERDICT A fun addition to picture book collections for children, and a perfect choice for October reads.-Selenia Paz

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2022
A child thinks their babysitter might be a witch. It's Halloween, and a child spies their new babysitter arriving. The babysitter has a long nose, a large beauty mark on her cheek, and a tall pointed black hat on her head--telltale signs of a witch. As the child and babysitter move through their night, the child chronicles ways readers might identify a babysitter as a bruja ("If she zooms in on a broom. / black sombrero on her head. / cackling like a crow...") as well as ways to outsmart a bruja: by mixing up a concoction that causes her to yell "�Ay Caramba!" taking the bruja's broom, and hurling water at her. But slowly the child realizes that maybe brujas aren't so bad after all. Unitalicized Spanish words are incorporated throughout. Freitas' digital art depicts a colorful house full of Halloween decorations and homey details, and the spreads with the bruja on her broom (or bike) are full of whimsical shapes. The characters' faces are expressive, and it's clear the child isn't afraid of the maybe-a-witch babysitter. Of course, the joke is "it's almost Halloween" and the babysitter could just be wearing a witch costume...but do we know for sure? Characters are tan-skinned and cued as Latinx. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A fun tale to share during spooky season. (Picture book. 3-5)

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August 22, 2022
As Halloween approaches, an evening with a new babysitter becomes a high-energy adventure in Siqueria’s seasonal story, which incorporates Spanish phrases. Though the sitter rolls up on a bicycle, the book’s second-person narrator sees things with holiday-colored glasses: “If she zooms in on a broom, black sombrero on her head, cackling like a crow... ¡¡CORRE! RUN!” Vibrant vignettes center the child and possibly-bruja babysitter, both portrayed with tan skin, Freitas depicts the action: the backyard jungle gym becomes a castle under an inky black sky dotted with ghost decorations, while bath time is described as involving “a bubbling cauldron with starving COCODRILOS!!!” As the child comes around on the sitter, final scenes sustain the upbeat tone. Ages 4–8.

September 1, 2022
If your babysitter is a bruja, Siqueira's enthusiastic text with frequently incorporated Spanish words (a bath is "a bubbling cauldron with starving COCODRILOS!!!") has plenty of advice to offer. But when one suggestion works, you might just regret it...and the book has your back then, too. Freitas's cartoonish digital illustrations in mostly cheerful hues show a witch and her babysitting charge in a cat-and-mouse game whose object, ultimately, is friendship and a pleasant bedtime. Brujas-in-training make the best sitting charges. Concurrently published in Spanish as Cuando tu ninera es una bruja. Shoshana Flax

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2022
If your babysitter is a bruja, Siqueira's enthusiastic text with frequently incorporated Spanish words (a bath is "a bubbling cauldron with starving COCODRILOS!!!") has plenty of advice to offer. But when one suggestion works, you might just regret it...and the book has your back then, too. Freitas's cartoonish digital illustrations in mostly cheerful hues show a witch and her babysitting charge in a cat-and-mouse game whose object, ultimately, is friendship and a pleasant bedtime. Brujas-in-training make the best sitting charges. Concurrently published in Spanish as Cuando tu ninera es una bruja.

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)