Heidi Heckelbeck 2 – Heidi Heckelbeck Casts a Spell

Wanda Coven's Heidi Heckelbeck Casts a Spell is a magic story for 6 year olds about a girl who has had quite enough of the class meanie.

What happens

It carries straight on from Heidi Heckelbeck Has a Secret, so that's the one to read first. Heidi is a witch. So are her mum and her Aunt Trudy, and her Book of Spells was a present from her grandma, another witch (Dad and her little brother Henry are just regular people).

And Heidi has a list. Melanie Maplethorpe called her smelly. She gave her five dirty looks for no reason. She got her cast as a scary apple tree in the class play. So Heidi finds a spell to make Melanie forget her lines on opening night.

The tricky part is the ingredients. Three cornflakes. A black plastic spider. Two sour gummy worms. A puppy tooth! Watching Heidi sneak them out of the cereal box, Mum's secret sweet drawer and a dog's chew toy is half the fun.

Aunt Trudy is lovely. She lives in a cottage that looks like a gingerbread house, keeps parrots and cats, and tells Heidi that witches have to solve their problems without magic first. Heidi says okay (but she's very careful not to actually promise).

There's a new friend too. Bruce has a laboratory in his basement, a puppy called Frankie and a sticker he's invented to track things on a webcam. And a bully on the school bus gets what's coming to him, thanks to a pair of untied laces.

Is getting your own back ever worth it? That's what this one is really about, and it's handled in a very gentle way. For any child who's been so cross with someone that they wanted them to feel just as bad, there's lots here to chat about.

What to read next

When they're ready for more, Heidi Heckelbeck and the Cookie Contest is next. This time Heidi is desperate to win a baking competition at school, and Melanie has some very rude things to say about chocolate chunk cookies.