A Bad Spell for the Worst Witch

Jill Murphy's A Bad Spell for the Worst Witch is a boarding-school story with broomsticks, written for 7 year olds, and it opens with Mildred Hubble absolutely determined to behave.

What happens

It's the first day of her second year at Miss Cackle's Academy. Last year was a catastrophe. This year she is early, she lands her broom beautifully, and of course nobody is looking.

People only ever watch when she does something dreadful, she thinks, never at a moment of triumph. Any child who has been told off for the one thing they didn't do will know that feeling.

Then she spots a new girl crying in the playground and goes over to be kind, which is where it all starts.

To cheer the poor thing up, Mildred spins a tale about a first-year who was turned into a frog for being late to a lesson. She makes it up on the spot. The little girl believes every single word and howls.

The little girl is Ethel Hallow's sister. Ethel is the school sneak and she does not let things go.

There's a row over porridge, Mildred calls the whole Hallow family weeds, and you can probably guess who ends up doing the hopping.

Before any of that, though, there is a fire drill. Mildred sees her form-mistress standing in purple smoke, decides she is in shock and must be rescued, and flies down with a bucket of stagnant rainwater balanced on her lap.

Miss Hardbroom gets the lot. Water first, bucket second, in front of half the school.

That's the bit that makes Mildred so easy to love. She never means any harm. She is kind, and brave, and her imagination runs away with her, and it goes wrong every time.

Her cat is lovely too. The other girls got sleek black kittens and Mildred got a nervous tabby who clings to her cardigan with its eyes shut and has to be prised off the broom on landing.

One thing to be ready for. Miss Hardbroom is properly unkind, not comically strict. She makes Mildred feel small in front of everybody and Ethel is rewarded for sucking up. If your reader gets upset when a grown-up is unfair to a child, expect some indignation.

The friendship is what balances it. Maud and Enid stick by Mildred through the lot, and the three of them spend the fire drill trying not to catch each other's eye in case they get the giggles.

What to read next

Coming to Mildred for the first time? Start with The Worst Witch. That one is her first year, and it begins the night before she is handed the kitten who still won't sit on a broomstick properly in this book.