The Old Witch of the Hill, whose many magical adventures are chronicled in fourteen picture-books published from 1966 through 1983, returns in this eleventh installment of the series, facing off against the Dragon of Thunder Mountain. Emerging after a one-hundred-year sleep, the dragon wreaks havoc on the nearby farming community, but when he moves on to the Old Witch's hill - destroying her garden, eating her oak tree, and trapping her in his cave (or so he believes) - he discovers that he has met his match! Tricking him into sticking his head into her cave, the Old Witch uses her potion to shrink the dragon's tail, thereby rendering him innocuous for another one hundred years, and earning the thanks of the local villagers...

It's interesting to see the evolution of the character of the Old Witch, as Ida DeLage's series progresses, and she goes from mostly adversarial, in titles like The Old Witch Goes to the Ball, to more accommodating (crochtety but kind), in stories like The Old Witch and Her Magic Basket. She's never a 'sweet' witch, à la Patricia Coombs' Dorrie or Lieve Baeten's the Curious Little Witch, but she does have her moments. It's also interesting to see what different artists make of her - each book that I have read in the series, thus far, has been illustrated by a different person - and this was no exception. Unada's work in The Old Witch and the Dragon is appealing enough, in a vintage way - black and white, with red and green accents - and presents the witchy protagonist in a suitably scruffy fashion, complete with stringy hair and a warty nose. Recommended to young readers who enjoy witchy tales - particularly those where the witch is not entirely friendly. ( )