Heidi Heckelbeck 20 – Heidi Heckelbeck and the Magic Puppy

Wanda Coven's Heidi Heckelbeck and the Magic Puppy is a magic story for 6 year olds about a lost puppy that Heidi would very much like to keep.

What happens

Heidi, Lucy and Bruce are playing Frisbee in the park when it sails into a bush. Out jumps a scruffy brown puppy with the Frisbee in his mouth (and teeth marks all over it, which Bruce is NOT happy about).

He's got a collar but no tag. Nobody at the dog park knows him, and the vet's scanner finds no microchip.

The vet offers to take him to the animal shelter. Heidi says thanks but no thanks and marches out with him. Can you blame her? She'd love a pet of her own.

So it's Found Puppy posters all over the neighbourhood. While everyone's out putting them up, the puppy gets the kitchen to himself.

Towels everywhere, cereal all over the floor and the stuffing pulled out of a new cushion. Henry is very quick to point out the puddle. Mum and Dad are never going to say yes now.

So Heidi gets out her Book of Spells and finds one for lost and found things. Halfway through the chant, the puppy leaps right into the mix.

What happens next is the best bit. Her toilet turns into a fire hydrant, her teddies become chew toys and the puppy floats off the ground and out of the room!

Aunt Trudy is the one to ring for a Heidi-mergency like that (and she's there before Heidi has even put the phone down).

After that it turns into a detective story. Heidi and Henry follow a trail of dug-up tulips and a chewed garden hose, and Henry decides his big sister is a brilliant detective.

The sentences are short, there's loads of talking and the puppy's "Yip! Yap!" pops up all the way through. It's a super easy one to read alone.

If your reader has ever begged for a pet, they'll be right there with Heidi. It's the twentieth Heidi book, but you don't need the others to enjoy it.

What to read next

If they'd like more of Heidi looking after an animal that isn't hers, there's Heidi Heckelbeck and the Tie-Dyed Bunny. She wins the chance to take Maggie the bunny home for Easter, along with eight rules to follow, and Dad's lab is full of bowls of egg dye.