Mr Majeika and the Haunted Hotel

Humphrey Carpenter's Mr Majeika and the Haunted Hotel is a daft, happy school-trip story for 6 year olds in which a wicked witch comes back for revenge dressed as a lollipop lady.

What happens

Mr Majeika teaches Class Three at St Barty's. He used to be a wizard, and he'd really rather not do magic any more (though he sometimes has to).

One Monday a funny old lady called Auntie Mina starts helping the children across the lane. She calls them "my little chicks" and offers them sweets. Jody thinks there's something odd about her. And the sweet the headteacher nearly eats is green, sticky and shaped like a toad!

Auntie Mina is Wilhelmina Worlock, a witch who wants to get her own back on Class Three. She tracks down her old genie, Jim, only to find he's retired and now runs a very polite hotel up by Hadrian's Wall. Class Three are about to go on a trip to Hadrian's Wall. You can see where this is heading.

On the way, the coach gets a flat tyre (all of them, actually). It's dark and foggy. And right outside is a gloomy hotel called the Green Banana.

There's lots of lovely spooky-silly fun from here. Creaking doors, a noise that sounds like chains (it's the headteacher's soup spoon), and a photo booth picture that the children mistake for ghosts.

Then a very small policeman called PC Buttonbottom turns up, followed by the ghost of Emperor Hadrian, who explains that the Picts were called Picts because they were always picking their noses. Any guesses who's under that fake beard? It's the class nuisance, Hamish Bigmore, who's Miss Worlock's Star Pupil.

The best bit is the magic duel. Mr Majeika turns into a giant red wobbly jelly. Miss Worlock turns into a giant spoon. Before long there are two Mr Majeikas, then two Miss Worlocks, and nobody can tell which is which.

It's a short, bouncy read in seven chapters, and it's great for reading aloud. There's nothing scary in it, apart from a threat of stewed worms and a brief trip somewhere with lions. If your reader likes their magic silly and their teachers kind, Mr Majeika is a treat.

What to read next

Then go back to the original Mr Majeika, where he flies in through the classroom window on a magic carpet and tries to tell the headteacher it's a bicycle.