Room on the Broom

Story

There once was a witch and she had a cat. Whilst travelling on her broomstick one day, the wind blows away her hat, her bow and her wand. Will the three friends she meets be able to help her find her belongings? Is there enough room on the broom for this adventure?

Why we chose it

Room on the Broom is hugely popular with younger primary age children – in the words of one teacher, 'in year 1 you can’t go wrong with Room on the Broom'.

Julia Donaldson is one of the most popular children’s writers writing today. Her partnership with Axel Scheffler has resulted in a many successful and much loved picture books.

Where it came from

Julia Donaldson (1948 - ) is an English writer and was the 2011-2013 Children’s Laureate. She used to go busking with her husband before they had children and grew fond of writing songs about the strangest things, pasta, crumpled up paper, guinea-pigs …..She wrote her first book in 1993, a picture book version of one of her songs, A Squash and a Squeeze. She is mainly inspired by childhood memories, fairy stories and folk tales.

Alex Scheffler (1957 - ) is an award-winning illustrator of children’s books. His first book with Julia Donaldson was A Squash and a Squeeze (1993) which was the start of their partnership.

Where it went next

Room on the Broom has been translated into 22 languages worldwide and has won 6 UK book awards. The audio book has won the Spoken Book Award, with the animated film version being shown on the BBC in the winter of 2012. The animation was awarded the Crystal for Best TV Production at the Annecy Animation Festival (2013) and was even an Oscar Nominee (2014). It has also been translated into British sign language and the Tall Stories play company have toured with the story for many years, since 2008.

Associated stories

Other Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler books include The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’’s Child, The Snail and the Whale, A Squash and a Squeeze, Zog, The Scarecrow’s Wedding, The Highway Rat, Tabby McTat, Stick Man, Tiddler, The Smartest Giant in Town, and Monkey Puzzle.

Julia Donaldson has worked with other illustrators on books like Cave Baby illustrated by Emily Gravett, The Paper Dolls illustrated by Rebecca Cobb, What the Ladybird Heard illustrated by Lydia Monks and The Magic Paintbrush illustrated by Joel Stewart.

Axel Scheffler is the illustrator of Philip Aardagh’s series of stories for older readers about The Grunts.