Quinn & The Witch Hunt

     Over spring break, I began the series A Court of Thornes and Roses by Sarah J. Mas – and found myself quickly enthralled by the little details, fantastic adventures, and frightening perils of the ACOTAR world. Currently, there are five books in the ongoing series: A Court of Thornes and Roses , A Court of Mist and Fury , A Court of Wings and Ruin , A Court of Frost and Starlight , and A Court of Silver Flames . While the series doesn’t focus directly on witches – or at least on witches in the sense that we’ve been discussing them – as its protagonists or antagonists, it does remind me of some of the themes we’ve explored about magic and belief – the power to harness the elements and the earth to do one’s bidding, the aliveness of the natural world around us, and the huge power of one’s imagination to build out and breathe life into a believable story or world.      Interestingly, I came across this fantasy series in a podcast I’ve mentioned in previou...

In preparation for this week’s class, I decided to take a trip down memory lane and re-read the Italian folktale, Strega Nona (1975). When parents would come to read to our class in elementary school, Strega Nona was a book that they would often bring with them – and I remember it being one of my favorites. To this day, Strega Nona has a uniquely comforting and familiar quality to it. Having the same effect on me at twenty-two years old as it did at five years old, Strega Nona – which means “Grandma Witch” – is a warm, maternal, and welcoming figure; she is someone who reminds me of my late grandma, Gail. Reading her story never fails to make me hungry for a home-cooked meal! In her small Calabrian town, Strega Nona is an integral source of potions, cures, magic, and comfort. Interestingly, the book begins with the line: “ Although all of the people in town talked about her in whispers, they all went to see her if they had troubles. Even the priest and the sisters of the convent went,...