Literary agent for children's books
LAURA CECIL
Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones
Illustrated by Marion Lindsay (UK edition)
Age range: 5 to 8 years
"Mrs Briggs sighed. 'And this is Erica Wigg,' she said hopelessly.
Mrs Briggs never could quite pin down just why it was that nobody ever wanted to take Earwig home with them. Earwig was skinny.
Her front teeth and her elbows stuck out rather, and she insisted on doing her hair in two bunches that stuck out too, just like her elbows and her teeth. But Mrs Briggs had known far worse-looking children who seemed to be wanted by everyone. What Mrs Briggs did not know was that Earwig was very good at making herself look unlovable.
It was something that she did quite quietly, on the inside of her face, and she always did it, because she was quite happy to stay at St. Morwald’s.
She made herself look unlovable now. She thought these two people were the most awful she had ever seen. They stared at her grimly."
When she was a baby, Earwig was left at St Morwald’s Orphanage. Unlike the other children, she loves it there because she is able to persuade people to do as she wants.
Then one day Earwig is chosen to live with a very strange couple: Bella Yaga, her new ‘mother’, is actually a horrible witch! They only brought her home from the orphanage to do all the nasty boring jobs like powdering rats’ bones and scrubbing the floor, and Bella Yaga won’t even teach her any spells. So with the help of Thomas the cat, Bella Yaga’s downtrodden familiar, Earwig decides to figure out some magic for herself, and teaches Bella Yaga what it really means to have another pair of hands....
EARWIG AND THE WITCH, published in June 2011, is illustrated throughout by brilliant new illustrator Marion Lindsay, whose quirky line drawings perfectly capture the spirit and humour of Earwig’s story.
"There's a nice helping of magic and some brisk upbeat sentiment in this crisply written story...How the feisty Earwig outwits the pair with her own special skills and the help of Bella Yaga's cat Thomas is deliciously entertaining." JULIA ECCLESHARE, THE GUARDIAN
"...delightful sampler of her originality and imagination, with small unexpected touches." NICOLETTE JONES, SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE
Rights : Laura Cecil
Publishers:
UK : HarperCollins
US : Greenwillow
Brazil : Editora Record
Japan : Tokuma Shoten
Spain : Anaya Infantil y Juvenil