Earwig's happiness faces a major challenge when the raggety-ribby-faced Bella Yaga and her towering husband the Mandrake come to the orphanage looking for a child to adopt—and they choose Earwig!

An excellent short novel for any fluent Y2 reader, as a class read for Y2 or any confident reader upwards to Y4.I'm also starting to see queer people everywhere because I was completely convinced that the two women leading the orphanage are a lesbian couple - fight me! On July 7, 2020, Studio Ghibli's North American distributor GKIDS announced they had acquired the North American distribution rights to the film and that the film would be set for a theatrical release date of early 2021 in North America. One day she is chosen for adoption by a creepy looking couple who bring her to a house where not everything is at it appears. Soon, Earwig is whisked off to their mysterious house full of invisible rooms, potions and spell books, and magic around every corner. The book is full of wonderful, quirky line illustrations - there are crow headers on each page, as well as spiders and crows appearing at the bottom of pages throughout but then there are also fabulous pictures of the characters showing Earwig with her googly eyes and crooked teeth, Bella Yaga looking rather hideous and the Mandrake with his horns and scary eyes!

Unlike the other orphans, she loves it there - mostly because she has the run of the place and seems to have a surprising ability to persuade people to do as she wants. This time though, a very weird pair of adults, one who seems to get taller and grow horns as he stands there, actually choose Earwig to go home with them.On October 13, 2021, it was announced that Netflix had acquired the worldwide streaming rights to the film, except Japan and United States.