What’s it all about?:
This delightful new series, full of doodle illustrations and themes of friendship and fitting in, will have young readers bewitched from the very first page! Bella Broomstick is a hopeless witch. So hopeless that nasty Aunt Hemlock is sending her to live in Person World – with the warning that she must never do magic again! But when Bella finds a kitten in trouble, a spell is the only way to rescue it. What is Bella to do? For where there is magic, trouble is never far away!
What did I think?:
When I was asked to take part in a blog tour for Bella Broomstick, I read the synopsis and couldn’t resist! This is a deliciously heart-warming story that I’m certain will be a big hit with any child who reads it. The main character is Bella Broomstick – which isn’t actually a strange name in the world of witches, as Bella tells us herself, it could have been a lot worse, she could have been Bella Batburn, Bella McEggsmell or even Bella Vonvomit, so she got off pretty lightly. Poor Bella is not a very good witch unfortunately. Her spells keep going horribly wrong and she’s just had her last chance to pass the entrance exam for the Creepy Castle school and failed dismally.
Bella’s parents were notoriously bad at magic too and they met a sticky end when turning themselves into tiny white mice as a bid to make her laugh led to them being snapped up by either a hungry witch’s cat or a greedy lizard… only two little pink tails were found. Eek! Bella is now looked after by her Aunt Hemlock – a “proper” witch with warts and evil cackle included! As punishment for failing her entrance exam, Aunt Hemlock takes Bella to Person World which sounds absolutely terrifying to Bella and, to top it all off, she is forbidden from using magic ever again.
Bella ends up in the care of Mr and Mrs Able, who are surprisingly normal and friendly to her, not being able to have children of their own. Bella even starts to believe she might enjoy this Person World, especially if it comes with scrumptious food, cool clothes and her very own flamingo pen, something she has coveted for a long time having only seen it in a catalog before now. However, this new world is not without its dangers and when Bella finds a kitten who needs her help, she thinks trying just the one spell wouldn’t hurt. Would it?
This was a really sweet read and a great introduction for me to Lou Kuenzler’s work. I loved the little doodles in the book that Bella makes as she talks the reader through the story and as a character, she is instantly loveable for children. It’s a beautiful story with a lovely message of the importance of love, friendship and family and not only can I imagine myself reading it over and over again as a youngster but it’s a story that I would immediately want to read to a child of my own. I wish the author all the best of luck in the future and I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for what she does next while perusing her back catalog.
Would I recommend it?:
But of course!
Star rating (out of 5):
For an interview with the author, Lou Kuenzler, please see my post HERE.