''Winnie the Witch'' (also known as ''Winnie and Wilbur'' since 2016) is a series of nineteen

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

s, written by Valerie Thomas and illustrated by

Korky Paul Hamish Vigne Christie "Korky" Paul (born 1951) is a British illustrator of children's books. He was born and raised in Rhodesia, but now lives in Oxford, England. His work, characteristically executed with bright watercolour paint and pen and ink ...

. More than seven million books have been sold of the series, and it has been translated into more than 10 languages. Following on from the success of the picture books, a series of 'young fiction' ''Winnie the Witch'' books were written by Laura Owen, also illustrated by

. An

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...

based on the books was initially produced for

Milkshake! ''Milkshake!'' (stylised as milkshake!) is a British children's television programming block on Channel 5 and is currently aimed at children aged 3–7. History The block debuted on Channel 5's first full day on air, at 7.30am on 31 March 19 ...

, but only two episodes aired as specials.

Book series

The original book ''Winnie The Witch'' was first published in 1987. It was reprinted nine times up until 1997 and re-issued with a new cover in 2006. In 2016, the book series was rebranded from ''Winnie The Witch'' to ''Winnie and Wilbur''. Valerie Thomas has worked for many years in education, teaching in schools in Australia and the UK.

is an illustrator of children's books. In 1986, he illustrated his first book for Oxford University Press, ''Winnie the Witch'', which won the Red House Children's Book Award in 1988.

''Winnie The Witch'' (1987)

Winnie can't find her cat Wilbur in her house, because both her house and Wilbur are black. So she uses magic to turn Wilbur into a variety of colours, each one of which leads to a variety of mishaps and makes Wilbur miserable. In the end, Winnie turns Wilbur back to his original colour and changes the colour of her house instead.

''Winnie's New Computer'' (2003)

Winnie has ordered her first computer (which is illustrated like an iMac G4, but instead of an Apple logo it has a pumpkin on its backside) and logs on to the internet. Wilbur however is jealous because Winnie spends so much time with her new computer and doesn't even let him touch "the mouse". Winnie decides to throw away her book of spells and her wand - from now on all her magic will be at the click of a mouse! But when Winnie finally goes to bed, Wilbur finally wants to see what this "new mouse" is all about. The next morning Winnie wakes up to discover she has no cat and no computer. It turns out that she still needs her book of spells from time to time. In the end, she manages to get her computer and Wilbur back and decides to keep her magic wand and her book of spells!

''Winnie's Midnight Dragon'' (2006)

Winnie and her cat Wilbur are woken up in the night by a baby dragon. The dragon sets Winnie's broomstick on fire. Winnie casts a spell to stop the baby dragon breathing fire; unfortunately now he breathes butterflies instead. Wilbur and the baby dragon chase the butterflies, causing much damage to Winnie's house. Winnie chases them to the roof and casts a spell to make a full moon. This allows the baby dragon's mother to see him and she comes to collect him. The dragons fly off and Wilbur and Winnie go to bed.

Bibliography

* 1987 ''Winnie the Witch'' * 1996 ''Winnie in Winter'' * 1999 ''Winnie Flies Again'' * 2002 ''Winnie's Magic Wand'' * 2003 ''Winnie's New Computer'' * 2005 ''Winnie at the Seaside'' * 2006 ''Winnie's Midnight Dragon'' * 2007 ''Happy Birthday, Winnie'' * 2008 ''Winnie's Flying Carpet'' * 2009 ''Winnie's Amazing Pumpkin'' * 2010 ''Winnie in Space'' * 2011 ''Winnie Under the Sea'' * 2012 ''Winnie's Dinosaur Day'' * 2013 ''Winnie's Pirate Adventure'' * 2014 ''Winnie's Big Bad Robot'' * 2015 ''Winnie's Haunted House'' * 2016 ''Winnie And Wilbur: Meet Santa'' * 2017 ''Winnie And Wilbur: The Naughty Knight'' * 2018 ''Winnie And Wilbur: The Monster Mystery'' * 2019 ''Winnie And Wilbur: The Bug Safari'' * 2020 ''Winnie And Wilbur: At Chinese New Year'' * 2020 ''Winnie And Wilbur: Stay at Home (eBook only)'' * 2020 ''Winnie And Wilbur: Around The World'' * 2021 ''Winnie And Wilbur: Winnie's Best Friend'' * 2022 ''Winnie And Wilbur: The Festival Of Witches'' * 2023 ''Winnie And Wilbur: The Witches' Sports Day''

Television series

''Winnie the Witch'' was adopted into a British

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

titled "Winnie and Wilbur". The first two episodes of the series, following the adventures of witch Winnie, and her black cat Wilbur, debuted on

Discovery Kids Discovery Kids (stylized as Discovery K!ds) is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television segment within the Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel. Most of its worldwide channels were ei ...

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

on 17 December 2016,. ''mi.tv''. and on

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

on 24 December. The first season was set for 52 11-minute episodes, but only two episodes were aired.

Characters

* Winnie (voiced by

Katy Brand Katherine Frances Brand (born 1979), known as Katy Brand, is an English actress, comedian and writer, known for her ITV2 series ''Katy Brand's Big Ass Show'' and for Comedy Lab ''Slap'' on Channel 4. Early life and education Brand was born in ...

) is an absent-minded

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

. * Wilbur (voiced by

Bill Bailey Mark Robert Bailey (born 13 January 1965), known professionally as Bill Bailey, is an English musician, comedian and actor. He is known for his role as Manny in the sitcom ''Black Books'' and his appearances on the panel shows ''Never Mind the ...

) is Winnie's

black cat A black cat is a domestic cat with black fur that may be a mixed or specific breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular breed. The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) recognizes 22 cat breeds that can come with solid black coats. The Bombay b ...

Episodes

Notes

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.winnieandwilbur.com/ Winnie The Witch 2010s British animated television series 2010s British children's television series 2016 British television series debuts 2016 British television series endings 2010s preschool education television series Animated preschool education television series Animated television series about cats British children's animated fantasy television series British preschool education television series British picture books Children's fiction books British English-language television shows Fantasy books by series Fictional witches Children's books about witches Television shows about witchcraft