Heidi Heckelbeck 1 – Heidi Heckelbeck Has a Secret

Wanda Coven's Heidi Heckelbeck Has a Secret is a funny first-day-at-school story for 6 year olds with a little bit of magic tucked away under the bed.

What happens

Heidi has always done school at home, with Mum as her teacher. Now she's starting second grade at Brewster Elementary, and she wakes up feeling like the princess of Crankypants.

The day goes about as well as she feared. A girl called Melanie holds her nose and announces that something smells. She paints a zigzag mouth on Heidi's self-portrait. Then she gets Heidi a part in the school play, as a scary apple tree.

There is one bright spot. Lucy Lancaster smiles at her, writes sentences that make the whole class laugh and comes to sit with her at lunch.

If your reader has ever been the new one, they'll recognise a lot of this. Heidi wonders whether an eight-year-old is allowed to drop out of school. She feels like an alien all day (Meep! Meep!). She hides her work under her arm so nobody can see it.

It's very funny too. Her little brother Henry is a joy, whether he's telling her that her outfit looks like a Halloween costume or suggesting she imagine Melanie with a pair of pants on her head. Who wouldn't want a brother like that in their corner?

And Mum and Dad are lovely. Dad wants her to taste-test his new cherry fizzy drink. Mum sits on the bed and tells Heidi that some girls thought she was different too, back at school.

Then, right at the end, you get let in on Heidi's secret. There's a sparkly keepsake box under her bed, an old book with a very interesting title and a plan for Melanie. Heidi thinks it's beautiful (and a tiny bit wicked).

What to read next

If they'd like another girl who isn't sure about starting school, try Isadora Moon Goes to School. Isadora is half fairy and half vampire, so she tries a day at fairy school and a night at vampire school to see where she fits (her wand has its own ideas about that).