Heidi Heckelbeck 6 – Heidi Heckelbeck and the Secret Admirer

Wanda Coven's Heidi Heckelbeck and the Secret Admirer is a short, funny chapter book for 6 year olds about a girl who's desperate to find out who keeps leaving her presents.

What happens

Heidi's class is preparing for the second-grade science fair. She makes a fist for good luck, hoping she won't be paired with mean Melanie. Instead she gets Melanie's best friend, Stanley. Then Melanie pinches their volcano idea!

So Heidi and Stanley go for dancing raisins. Heidi's dad is a soda-pop scientist, and he helps them in his home lab with vinegar, baking soda and a big round fishbowl of purple water.

Meanwhile, someone keeps leaving Heidi surprises. A bundle of grape Candy Pops in her cubby. A lemony note in her desk with scratch-and-sniff stickers. Who could it be?

Heidi is SURE it's Charlie Chen. Charlie goes very red and has no idea what she's talking about.

So Heidi reaches for her secret Book of Spells. She mixes up a truth potion with peppermint gum and green food colouring that she's made herself from yellow and blue. You can probably guess how well that goes with a little brother around.

Henry is the star of the show. First he eats the last grape Candy Pop. Then, on the big day, he eats the raisins (the most important part of the whole experiment!). Heidi is furious, and your reader will probably laugh out loud.

It's a quick, easy read with lots of bickering between classmates to keep things lively. Very relatable, too, if your reader has ever had to work with someone they didn't choose. (Stanley turns out to be all right, actually.)

The secret admirer stays a mystery almost to the end, and the last page has a little wink in it that grown-ups reading along will enjoy spotting.

What to read next

If they'd like more of Heidi, Henry and horrible Melanie, try Heidi Heckelbeck and the Cookie Contest. Heidi is desperate to win the school baking competition, Melanie sneers at her chocolate chunk cookies and Henry begs to be the taste-tester.