Gadi Taub. The Witch of Melchett Street

AGE: 12 up

With rare sensitivity, Taub tells us about Assaf's love for his classmate Lianne, and how he helped his neighbor Pnina - a 300-year-old witch, according to him - to find her long-lost husband.
Assaf loved Lianne from the time he was a young boy, but because he was shy he tried to hide his feelings. Hoping to make Lianne fall in love with him, he asked Pnina to work her magic. Pnina refused, and told Assaf about the dangers of love potions: it was a similar potion that hade made Pnina's young husband leave her. Taking matters into his own hands, Assaf got Lianne to help him find Pnina's husband and saved his life. Another result was that Lianne came to love Assaf too, at least for a time.
Reading Assaf's attempt to put the memories of his first love into writing, Lianne, now a young woman, realizes that Assaf will always love her. But she still doesn't believe that Pnina was a witch. The Witch of Melchett Street has been made into a TV film.