Bella Broomstick

Bella Broomstick by Lou Kuenzler is a funny, big-hearted story for 6 year olds about a young witch who's sent to live with ordinary people.

What happens

Bella can't do magic. She's just failed her entrance exam for Creepy Castle School for the third time. (Her test paper caught fire and her shoelace turned into a snake.) The only thing she's good at is talking to animals.

Her Aunt Hemlock is horrible. She has seven warts on her nose and eats spiders dunked in porridge! She decides Bella is so useless she should go and live in the Person World, where there's no magic at all.

Bella is thrilled. She's been secretly reading an old department store catalogue for years, and she's desperate to see a real toilet.

So she lands at Honeysuckle Cottage with Aunty Rose and Uncle Martin. They're kind and cosy and they've always wanted a child. But there's a catch. Aunt Hemlock's spell only works while a magic moth stays safe in its jar. And Bella must never, ever do magic again.

Bella tells the story herself and her excitement is gorgeous. Flushing the toilet (twice, just for fun). A peach bubble bath. A fluffy pink flamingo pen that leaves her lost for words. Seeing our everyday world through her eyes is a real treat.

And who hasn't felt like the odd one out at some point? If you've got a reader who worries they're not good at the things everyone else finds easy, Bella is lovely company.

It's worth knowing that Bella is an orphan. When she was a baby her parents turned themselves into white mice to make her laugh, and nothing was ever found of them but two pink tails. It's told lightly and very early on, but some little ones do find that sort of thing sad.

What to read next

If they like a girl who's hopeless at the one thing everyone expects of her, try Princess Disgrace, also by Lou Kuenzler. Grace turns up at princess school in a shaggy yak-fur cloak, and falls flat on her bottom trying to curtsy.