Heidi Heckelbeck 11 – Heidi Heckelbeck Is a Flower Girl

Wanda Coven's Heidi Heckelbeck Is a Flower Girl is a magical chapter book for 6 year olds about a young witch who'd much rather not walk down the aisle.

What happens

This is the eleventh Heidi Heckelbeck book. Aunt Sophie (Dad's sister) is marrying Uncle Ned in the Heckelbecks' back garden, and Heidi has been asked to be the flower girl.

She is NOT thrilled. Heidi's more of an everyday girl, happiest in her kitty cat top and her stripy tights. The dress shop is a parade of pastel frocks, and each one is worse than the last (the yellow one makes her look like a glass of lemonade).

The blue one wins in the end. It has scratchy ruffles round the neck and a skirt that sticks out like a lampshade. Merg!

Her little brother Henry, meanwhile, is having the time of his life as ring bearer. Or the RING BEAR, as he insists on calling himself.

What's really bothering Heidi is the spotlight. She dreams she topples over in front of all the guests and can't get up. Then Melanie, her worst enemy at school, grabs the photo of Heidi in the dress and announces that she'll trip. Who hasn't had a worry that grows every time somebody else mentions it?

There's a little side plot too. Heidi is convinced her head teacher, Principal Pennypacker, is secretly a witch, and Aunt Trudy's lilac powder (it makes witches sneeze) looks like the perfect test.

Then, with half an hour to go before the ceremony, Henry lets slip that Aunt Sophie's wedding ring is in his pirate treasure chest. It isn't. Cue a frantic hunt through toy boxes and sports kit, and Heidi reaching for her secret Book of Spells.

It's gentle and very funny. Heidi's grumpy little thoughts make her easy to love, and the spells are silly rather than scary. If your reader has ever been squeezed into something itchy for a family do, they'll be right there with her.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Heidi Heckelbeck Gets the Sniffles comes next in the series. This time Heidi is desperate not to miss the town's autumn festival, so she decides to ignore a very obvious cold.