The Witch's Magic Cloth is a very good book for young children to read. This book takes place in a village in Japan a long time ago. The people of this village pass on a tale that there is a witch living on the top of the mountain right behind the village. The villagers are terribly frightened of the witch and try not to upset her. On a bright and sunny day while the villagers were minding their own business all of a sudden a big, dark rain cloud thundered over the village. Then a voice roared from the cloud and said" The witch of the mountain has just given birth to her first son. She demands you bring her rice cakes or she will come down and devour you all!" the people of the village so were frightened that they did exactly what she said right away. The two men who were chosen to go up the mountain to give her the rice cakes were so afraid that they refused to go up there unless someone else came along to accompany them. A very old lady who had lived a full and enjoyable life volunteered to go along with the two men since she was very satisfied with her life and felt that if it were to come to an end she wouldn't mind.
On their way up the mountain big gusts of wind were blowing in every direction. One gust of wind was so strong that the two men and the little old lady had to take cover from the wind. When the old lady stood up and looked around after the wind had passed, she couldn't find the two other men anywhere. She waited for them but they never came back. Since she couldn't carry the rice cakes she headed up the mountain and finally, hours later, arrived at the witch's house. The witch answered the door and asked the witch where the rice cakes were. The witch told her all about her journey up the mountain. The witch was very nice about the whole thing and had her son go down and get the rice cakes. The witch asked the women to dinner and after that the witch kindly told the old lady that she wasn't going home for a couple weeks. The witch needed help because she was weak from having a baby. Does the old lady get to go home or is she the witches slave forever? Read the book to see what happens!
I recommend this book to children from ages 3-7. This book shows that you shouldn't judge someone before you really know the person and who he or she is. The old lady is an example of this because before she goes up the mountain she is worried about not coming back alive. When she gets up to the witches house the witch is really nice to her and that changes the old lady's whole perspective about the old with of the mountain.