Christabelle Grant Author

When I was a kid, a new book hit the shelves at the local small town library.

“The witch in the cherry tree” by Margaret Mahy, a well known New Zealand author, flew off the shelves and straight into my little hands.

I was obsessed with witches and this one in particular, took my fancy.

The story goes that a young a young boy was baking with his mum on a rainy day, when out of the blew (or out of the sky) a witch appeared in the cherry tree- watching them both and devouring only one of the best scents in the world- that of home made baking.

The young boy ended up giving the witch a taste of his baking- which was all burnt- and coincidently, the witches favourite.

Now, at this point in my life, I did an awful lot of baking with my own mum alongside my brother and sister, with my favourite part being licking the spoon after the butter and sugar had been creamed together.

There really is no taste like it.

However, I was of course, very wary of the fact that each and every act of baking, could bring on an un-invited visit from a witch in the garden.

Now one might say that that was illogical, but given the fact that I had read about this very thing in a book and was highly aware of my surroundings- including the every looming cheer tree in the backyard, I was not and I repeat WAS NOT going to have the wool pulled over my eyes- not then, not now, not ever.

As I baked, I scanned the garden. Watching, waiting, for that damn witch to make an appearance.

Oddly, she never did.

Now perhaps that may be due to the fact that she didn’t like the particular cherry tree in the garden, or perhaps it was due to the fact that I never burned my baking (just the way that witch liked it) we will never know.

What I do know is that books, both big and small, have huge influence over our imagination, especially as children and can prepare us for situations (ahem) that may or may not take place in our lives.

That damn witch in the cherry tree- she had me then, she has me now- and I for one, won’t let my baking burn- and I bet after this blog post, you won’t either.