"If it hadn't been for her marvelous blue nose...[Blanche] wouldn't have been allowed in Scurry 13 at all."
The Blue-Nosed Witch is a children's book published in 1956, written by Margaret Embry and illustrated by Carl Rose.
Blanche, the youngest witch in Scurry 13 — the most talented group of witches in the country — is often late to the scurry's night rides, to the point of annoyance from one of the witches in the scurry. If not for her unique blue nose that she can turn off and on at will she likely would still be in the younger witches, and her best friend Josephine stands up for her while Minnie Max thinks she should be sent back with the younger witches for her chronic lateness.
On Halloween, Josephine and Blanche both set her alarm clock early to make sure she'll show up on time for that night's important flight meeting, resulting in Blanche being up much earlier than she planned. She ends up spending the evening with a group of children trick-or-treating, who are fascinated by her nose and talents — and have no idea she's a real witch at first — and has an interesting Halloween night before she finally meets up with Scurry 13.
The Blue-Nosed Witch contains examples of:
- 20 Minutes into the Past: The book opens stating that it happened "not more than four or five Halloweens ago."
- The '50s: The book was written and is set in the 1950s.
- All Witches Have Cats: Blanche has a black cat named Brockett, who often makes her late by being hard to find. When Old Man Skinner is nasty to them, her first act is to tell Brockett to go and yowl loudly on his windowsill.
- Always Late: Blanche is scatterbrained and frequently late for Scurry 13's night flights. She wants to be on time but has things get in the way — like her wanting one more snack, to finish her comic, or that she can't find her cat or broom. She and her friend Josephine both try to make sure she's not on Halloween by setting her alarm clock early, but she ends up waking up much earlier than she planned (and ends up distracted trick-or-treating and nearly late anyways).
- Ambiguous Gender: The three Bedsheet Ghosts not only never show their faces, their gender is never indicated. They're only referred to by their height.
- Bedsheet Ghost: Three of the children Blanche trick-or-treats with are dressed as such and are referred to by height, never showing their faces or revealing their genders.
- Child Hater: Old Man Skinner, who has a sling shot and is skilled with it. He's blamed the kids for stealing apples they didn't take, ruining his growing corn, and upsetting his hens. He's even shot rocks at one of the kids and their dog for crossing his lawn. One of the Bedsheet Ghosts says he's especially mean to children on Halloween. When the kids go to his house to trick or treat, he gives them rotten apples to be nasty, and when Brocket starts yowling, he comes out and shoots at them with rocks with his slingshot intending to hit them. Blanche gets back at him for the sake of the kids — and because she's annoyed as well.
- Covers Always Lie: Minor; a 1983 cover shows Blanche wearing a cape, which she never wears.
- Cute Witch: Blanche, other than her talented nose and her ability to fly on a broomstick, looks like an ordinary little girl enough to blend in with a group of trick-or-treating children.
- Everytown, America: The town that Blanche goes trick-or-treating in is never named and is a general 1950s Suburbia.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The whole book takes place over a few hours before and on Halloween night.
- The Faceless: The three Bedsheet Ghosts never show their face, and their gender is never indicated — they're only referred to by their height.
- Fantastically Indifferent: The kids Blanche runs into are enchanted by Blanche's witch talents, including her blue nose she can make glow. (They initially think it's a dime-store gag.) However, they don't make a big deal of it; they fold her into the group to go trick-or-treating without any worries, suggest she show it off at the Smith house, and when she gets on her broom and blows smoke down Child Hater Skinner's chimney in retaliation for his nasty prank, their only reaction to her being on a Flying Broomstick is that flying is much better than walking and clearly she uses the same "concentration" she used for her nose to fly.
- For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Blanche is mistaken initially as just another child going trick-or-treating by others, including the children she's with. When she does show off her talents, they're amused and delighted, but don't treat her any different.
- Flying Broomstick: The witches all use brooms to get around except the Grande Madame, who rides a vacuum cleaner that makes a loud noise upon her gunning the motor. (One of the threats against Blanche for being so young and scatterbrained — and Always Late to their night flights — is that she ought to be sent back to Scurry 2 1/2 where she'd be downgraded to a whisk broom.) When Blanche is up much earlier than planned and sees a girl dressed like a witch, she mistakes her for Josephine and wonders why she's walking, thinking perhaps her broom broke down.
- Halloween Episode: The book takes place on Halloween night.
- Halloween Trickery: After Old Man Skinner is cruel and gives the children rotten apples as a prank — and accuses them of stealing from him and upsetting his hens — one kid suggests they should soap his windows. Blanche at first has Brockett yowl loudly, but when Skinner chases the kids off with his slingshot, Blanche flies up and blows his smoke backwards down his chimney — making him think his house is on fire — and then buzzes around his head as he runs back.
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: The witches take off from Dead Man's Bluff for their flights. It's just a spooky place name and there's no indication it's anything but a place witches gather.
- Inexplicably Awesome: Blanche has a nose that she can make glow blue and turn on and off at will by concentrating. There's never any explanation for it other than her being a talented witch, and this is why she at her young age is allowed to be part of Scurry 13.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Josephine, a much older witch, is said to be best friends with young Blanche.
- Magic Cauldron: Mentioned as part of the celebration on Halloween; there's to be dancing, chanting, and a pot of brew.
- Minor Living Alone: Blanche is young enough to go trick-or-treating with other children and reads comics — a childish thing in the 1950s — but lives alone, owing to being a witch.
- Nice Girl: Blanche is very nice and polite for a young witch. She's kind to Butch and answering his questions honestly, friendly to the rest of the children, and very well behaved the whole night. The most mischief she gets up to is when Child Hater Old Man Skinner is nasty to her and the others, and then she returns the favor of a trick back to him.
- The Night Owl: Blanche — and the rest of the witches — prepare for bed at noon to get up for their midnight flights. When the other children have to go home, Blanche flies over the neighborhood and, seeing many houses dark or quiet, wonders why so many people go to bed early just as the night gets interesting.
- No Antagonist: The only major conflict of the book is Blanche wanting to get to the Halloween Flight Meeting with Scurry 13 on time since she's Always Late. There's Minnie Max annoyed with Blanche being young and chronically late, and there's a short conflict with Child Hater Skinner — but Skinner doesn't get in the way of Blanche's need to get to the meeting on time and mostly just serves to be cantankerous and nasty while Minnie just says she'll complain to the Grand Madame if Blanche isn't on time.
- No Name Given:
- For the other nine "ordinary" witches in Scurry 13; only Blanche, Minnie Max, and Josephine are given names and descriptions, with the rest having no Nominal Importance. The Grande Madame also likely has a name, but is referred to by her title alone.
- Other than Butch (the pirate/little brother of the witch leading the group trick-or-treating) none of the other children are named and are instead referred to by their costumes.
- The people at the evening party Blanche goes to are unnamed, as minor characters.
- Only One Name: Blanche and none of the witches named have last names. When Butch asks her her name, she says it's just "Blanche", which results in the children playing around with her name and calling her "Blanche Witch, that's which witch!" and singing it as a chant.
- Revenge Is a Dish Best Served: This is why Child Hater Skinner gives the children rotten apples; he thinks they're the cause behind his stolen apples, picked growing corn, and his hens startled so they don't lay. But really he's just nasty to kids.
- Robe and Wizard Hat: Mostly the hats. Blanche has the hat but is otherwise dressed ordinary enough in a black dress, which makes her appear like a little girl. The other witches wear hats and dresses as well with scarvesnote wrapped around their torsos, while the Tall Witch is dressed in a generic witch costume of a long robe and pointed hat along with a rubber mask.
- Tagalong Kid:
- Butch, the child dressed like a pirate, is there along with the other kids trick-or-treating because his older sister the Tall Witch had to bring him, though she told their mother he was too young. He and the smallest ghost have to be home by nine-thirty that night.
- Blanche is treated like this by Minnie Max, who thinks her chronic lateness and scatterbrained ways means she's too young to be part of Scurry 13 and ought to be sent back to Scurry 2 1/2 for children.
- Weirdness Censor: The kids don't care that Blanche is a witch and can fly on a broomstick. The Smiths—an older couple—think her blinking nose is a clever trick that she's come up with and she's just another kid trick-or-treating. However, when she darts off after visiting an evening party (because it's nearly midnight and she's about to be late yet again to her scurry's meetup), one of the ladies at the party she stopped by sees her fly off on her broom through the door slot — and when the woman tells the others at the party what she just saw, they just laugh her off.
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Blanche needs to be present for the Halloween flight at midnight. She tries to set her clock ahead to wake up in time but between her and her friend Josephine both doing it, she ends up waking up too early at nine p.m.
- Who's on First?: Played with; when Blanche gives her name and clarifies it's just Blanche, little Butch reasonably says her name must be Blanche Witch. This results in the cowboy calling her "which witch" and children going "she's Blanche Witch, that's which witch!" and singing it as a chant.
- Witch Classic:
- Blanche and the others witches are very much the classic style of witch, with black dresses and pointy hats who travel on Flying Broomsticks. Blanche even has a black cat, Brockett. The night of Halloween one of the events happening after the flight is the witches making a brew together.
- The tall witch leading the group of trick-or-treaters is dressed like this. Blanche at first mistakes her for her best friend Josephine until she gets closer and sees that the mask is rubber and the hair is stringy, when Josephine is so meticulous about her hair.
