Claribel A. Ortega
Witchlings
During the Black Moon Ceremony, 12 year old witchling Seven Salazar is not only NOT placed in one of the five respectable covens in the town of Ravenskill, she is a made a Spare. Just when she thinks the worst possible thing has happened, her coven isn’t sealed and the only way to avoid being stuck as a Witchling forever is to invoke the impossible task. Together, the three Spares have 21 days to overcome their differences and to defeat the Nightbeast, or look forward to forever toadification. If the Nightbeast doesn’t get them first.
INTRODUCTION
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Comprehension
Start Here
Before you crack open book one of “Witchlings”, watch Ainara’s book review, and travel with her to meet author Claribel Ortega who gives a guided tour of the town in New York that inspired Seven’s hometown of Ravenskill in the book.
Go Deeper
More to Explore
In each module, you will be invited to spend time exploring some of the ideas introduced in the book. Make sure you check out the links in this section to discover more interesting, cool, and fun stuff!
Check out author Claribel Ortega’s website:
Get Creative
Get Creative
While reading this book, we invite you to create a set of trading cards inspired by the characters, flora, and fauna (including monstruos) found in Witchlings. You’ll include images, descriptions, strengths, and powers to the cards as you progress through the modules, so that you’ll have a complete set by the end of the book. For now, we recommend finding a stack of 12-20 cue cards to take notes for each of your characters. You’ll transfer that information onto cards that you can display or trade. Here’s a PDF for your final cards. We recommend you print out enough for 12 cards to start, glue them on thicker paper/cardboard/card stock, and cut them out so they are ready to use.
Journal
Writing Prompt
In each module, you will be invited to write some of your thoughts related to the story. You will be given writing prompts… feel free to use these, or write about any other thoughts or connections that come up for you while reading. You can use your own notebook as a journal OR print this journal template to fill in as you go.
Here’s your first journal prompt before you begin reading Witchlings:
In the “Witchlings” episode of Ainara’s Bookshelf, Ainara says, ‘you have more power than you know’. What do you think she means by this? Do you agree or disagree? Can you think of a personal experience, or reflect on someone you know, as an example?
