The Best Witch in Paris by Lauren Crozier
Luna rides a battered old broom that keeps crashing itself into the school pond. She has a witch’s hat and wand and sometimes she’s quite good at magic, but she isn’t completely sure that she’s a real witch. She doesn’t have a familiar for one thing, and she doesn’t know where she came from—only that she was found by three witches who she now calls her aunts. When she swaps her moonstone ring for an Australian boobook owl in the Lost Forest, the mysterious bird seller makes her promise to keep the bird hidden for as long as she can. This is not easy when you live with very inquisitive aunts. And it’s not easy when you find out that the fearsome Madame Valadon, the Best Witch in Paris, is missing her boobook owl and she’s sure that Luna knows something about it.
Could it be that Luna has Madame Valadon’s boobook? Why then did the mysterious bird seller give it to Luna? Why did she say the bird belonged to her? A familiar can only belong to one witch, after all. Luna has lots of questions—the biggest one of all is who she really is.
Fun and funny and full of life, The Best Witch in Paris is a delightful story of courage and self-belief, with colourful characters, fabulous magic and a puzzling mystery at its core.
Published 3 September 2024| Publisher: Text Publishing | RRP: AUD$17.99
Buy it at: Dymocks | Abbey’s | QBD
My Blurb (3.5 / 5 stars)
What a fabulous cover! Along with the description of the book made me think that this was going to be a very fun read. And it was mostly a fun read with its own merit.
However, as an older reader who lived through and took part in the Harry Potter hullabaloo, I couldn’t help but finding similarities in this book to that series. I wouldn’t have minded a few because there were so much creative fun in HP that could be and probably have been adopted into many other books but there were just too many of those. I’ve taken a star off for that.
Nevertheless, I do believe HP series is somewhat dated now and today’s younger readers may not be as familiar with the series as me. Therefore, this book could be so much fun for them. The colourful characters (they all wear black because witches but very lively personalities), engaging mystery, and empowerment of young women make this novel a very charming read.
If there is a young person you know who does not like sad little orphan boy and find those books a little bit scary, I’d highly recommend to get them to try this one. This little orphan girl always manages to pull her big girl pants up and get on with it. There is also humour and the monsters are a lot less scary.
My thanks to Text Publishing gifting me a copy of this book in exchange of my honest thoughts
About the authors
Lauren Crozier won the 2023 Text Prize for her debut novel The Best Witch in Paris. She lives in Sydney with her partner and their two children.
Find author on: goodreads
Charlie Archbold is an educator and an award-winning writer. Her first novel, Mallee Boys, was a CBCA older readers honour book. Her first book in the Sugarcane Kids middle-grade series, The Sugarcane Kids and the Red-bottomed Boat, was shortlisted for the Text Prize and went on to win the Readings Children’s Prize and the Davitt Children’s Novel Award and was a CBCA notable book.
Shirley Marr is a first-generation Chinese-Australian living in Perth and an author of young adult and children’s fiction, including YA novels Fury and Preloved, and children’s novels Little Jiang and A Glasshouse of Stars. She describes herself as having a Western mind and an Eastern heart. She likes to write in the space in the middle where they both collide, basing her stories on her own personal experiences of migration and growing up in Australia, along with the folk and fairy tales from her mother. Arriving in mainland Australia from Christmas Island as a seven-year-old in the 1980s and experiencing the good, the bad and the wonder that comes with culture shock, Shirley has been in love with reading and writing from that early age. Shirley is a universe full of stars and stories and hopes to share the many other novels that she has inside her.
Lorraine Marwood was born and raised in rural Victoria and has lived for most of her married life on a dairy farm with her husband and their six children. Lorraine is an award-winning poet who has been widely published in literary magazines across Australia, as well as magazines in the UK, USA, New Zealand and Canada. She has also published several children’s novels and collections of poetry.
Danielle Binks is a Melbourne-based writer, reviewer, agent, book blogger and Youth Literature Advocate. In 2017, she edited and contributed to 
Weng Wai Chan was born and grew up in Singapore. She now lives in Auckland with her husband and three children. Lizard’s Tale is her first book.
Tien's Blurb 