BROOM MATES

Gritch the Witch is understandably peeved when her saucy, bossy sister Mag the Hag flies in a day early for the upcoming Howliday party. Having “fussed and feuded about anything and everything ever since they were little ghouls,” the two immediately take up where they left off, bickering over bedding and decorations, and finally racing into the kitchen to whip up rival party fare (“I’m going to make my rat-tail-tooey”). Fine illustrates the running rumble with page-filling close-ups of two Phyllis Diller look-alikes in fright wigs. Ultimately both end up covered in Gritch’s slimy “brew-ha-ha,” just as their mummy (in both senses of the word) walks in the door, looking “very unraveled,” but more than a match for her unruly offspring. A “brew-ha-ha” indeed, with generous portions of humor both clever and gross for flavor and irrepressibly lively images and language as main ingredients. Fans of Gritch’s previous misadventures will scream—with laughter. (Picture book. 7-9)