If the animals knew that the witch could not make room on her broom for them, do you think they still would have helped her? The witch eventually makes room on the broom for a cat, dog, bird, and frog. Are all of these characters considered friends? Students can discuss what makes people friends. Would you have made friends with the witch? How do you treat your friends? Further, because the witch allows everyone on her broom, it snaps in two. Students can consider why the witch continued to make room on her broom when there wasn’t really room. And you can never get them started on fantasy too young - good witches and bad dragons - perfect! We'll get him reading Tolkien before he's ten...

If the animals only helped the witch because they wanted something in return, does this make it a selfish act?Questions for Philosophical Discussion » Summary Room on the Broom considers questions about friendship, helping others, and teamwork. I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs. Room on the Broom has a delightful rhyme that almost sounds like song, or music - any picture book that rhymes like this is a pleasure to read out loud. The story just flows so well, it's fun to read, and pleasurable to the ear. Doesn't stop a kid from interrupting, though!

One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading. I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).

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It is in my opinion often rather difficult if not even pretty well rare to find poetry specifically conceptualised for younger children that is not only thematically and content wise fun and engaging but that also presents itself at the same time as lyrically and rhythmically adept (in other words, I mean to say that I do tend to find it often not all that easy to find children specific poetry that does not read somewhat awkwardly and haltingly at times, that continuously presents both a good and successful rhyme scheme and a decent and melodious lyrical flow).