The Wompananny Witches Make One Mean Pizza

June 26, 2017
In Palmer’s quirky children’s book debut, sisters Anita and Winnifred Wompananny are purple-skinned, green-haired witches, one tall and lanky, the other short and squat. They love preparing pizza in their Brooklyn home, which resembles a giant, wonky potbelly stove, wedged between brownstones. Terrified of the neighborhood children, the witches cower when they come to their door selling cookies—and inadvertently pound their “fearful, freaked-out feelings” into the pizza dough. The result: “one mean pizza,” which promptly takes off rolling down the block, cheese puddles in its wake, before entering the park and landing atop a carousel. Palmer’s kinetic cartoons revel in the messy, cheesy chaos, which leads the sisters to realize that pizza, children, and witches are actually a pretty tasty combination. It’s a cheerfully offbeat story of common ground—and uncommonly good pizza—bringing diverse neighbors together. Ages 3–7. Agent: Jessica Sinsheimer, Sarah Jane Freymann Literary.

July 15, 2017
Two recluse witch chefs with a passion for pizza come out from behind their pizza oven...and survive the wild neighborhood kids. Everyone knows that kids and witches go together "like ketchup on your cannoli!" So when three human children come ringing the witches' doorbell, the witches are so distressed they must vent their feelings by whipping up a tasty pizza. But all their negative feelings go into that pizza, and it escapes them, unleashing its meanness as it rolls through the city and growing bigger with every rotation. Luckily, it leaves a trail of pepperoni, sauce, and cheese all over Brooklyn; hungry children taste the pizza's trail and decide they must have more, cleverly chasing and catching the errant pie in Prospect Park. The witches are shocked to see that the kids they formerly thought were just wild are still wild...for their pizza! "Children and witches are a perfect pair!" The colophon depicts "2 Witches Pizza: Brooklyn's 'nicest' slice," a diverse crowd in a line halfway down the block. "One Mean Pizza Recipe" is on the back endpaper, though it calls for premade pizza dough and pizza sauce, so it's basically a list of choices of cheeses and toppings and directions for throwing a pie together and baking it. Palmer's ink, watercolor, and Photoshop illustrations are full of humorous details that require numerous rereads to catch them all. Pair with a pie for one mean--er, make that nice--storytime. (Picture book. 4-8)

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