Heidi Heckelbeck 13 – Heidi Heckelbeck Is Not a Thief!

Wanda Coven's Heidi Heckelbeck Is Not a Thief is a school story with a pinch of magic in it, written for 6 year olds who know exactly what it feels like to want something badly.

What happens

Lucy turns up at school with a new pen. It is shaped like a lollipop. It sparkles, it glows while you write and it has a strawberry scent. Heidi takes one look and decides she HAS to have one.

Her Aunt Trudy does buy her a lollipop pen. Only it does not sparkle. It does not light up. It does not smell of anything.

Then Lucy's pen goes missing from her backpack. And Lucy decides Heidi must have taken it.

That is the part that stings. Not the pen. The fact that her friend thinks she would do something like that. Heidi says it straight out. What kind of friend do you think I am?

Heidi is a witch, which she keeps very quiet about at school. So she does the thing a lot of 6 year olds would probably love to do. She fetches her Book of Spells and tries to turn her plain pen into a sparkly one.

It does not go well. (Let us just say you cannot write with it afterwards.)

What is lovely is how ordinary everything is around the magic. Tomato soup and grilled cheese. Her little brother Henry doing a pirate voice and poking her in the back with his new sword pen. Her friend Bruce in a white lab coat, demonstrating an invention called the Bicker Picker-Upper, which is basically a robot arm for tidying your bedroom floor.

The falling out is handled kindly. Heidi's mum does not tell her off for the spell. She sits down next to her and says the truth will come out, and that they will be friends again, pen or no pen.

If you have got a child who has ever come home desperate for the exact thing somebody else in their class has got, this will land. The wanting is very real. So is the sulking when you get the wrong version.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Worth knowing, being accused of stealing takes up a good chunk of the middle, and the two girls do not speak for a whole school day. A child who finds friendship wobbles upsetting might want you nearby for that bit. A child who enjoys seeing things put right will be absolutely fine.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Heidi Heckelbeck 3 - Heidi Heckelbeck and the Cookie Contest has more magic going sideways. Heidi enters the school baking contest, decides her cookies sound boring next to everyone else's, and reaches for the spell book again.