The Worst Witch Saves the Day by Jill Murphy

Mildred Hubble, who has the reputation as the "worst witch in school" is back at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches, planning to redeem her reputation as she enters third form. Mildred, armed with a Broomstick Proficiency Certificate, a lovely new flying broom from her mum, and a summer of mastering insect transformation spells, is determined that this year will be different.

But for Mildred, good intentions don't seem to help. As she spruces herself up for her first all-school assembly, the styling brush she borrows from her friend Maud gets hopelessly entangled in her waist-long hair. Of course, the spiteful Ethel Hallow takes the opportunity to free the appliance by whacking it off, hair and all, leaving Mildred with half a crewcut on one side of her head. Unabashed, Ethel compounds the damage by hacking off the rest of Millie's hair haphazardly, leaving her with a waifish look that only her empathetic friend Enid can find fashionable.

Ethel, all sugary and apologetic, convinces Mildred to let her whip up a regrowth spell to return her hair to its original state, but when she rubs it into her remaining hair at bedtime, Mildred awakens later with a runaway regrowth problem. The long coils of regrowing locks threaten to engulf her, and her timid cat Tabby ends up dangling out the window by one rapidly lengthening lock several floors above the ground. Miss Hardbroom declares it a super-bad-hair day, and performs a spell to stop the regrowth and trim Mildred's hair back to its normal length.

At least her hair is back to normal as the students head out to their first flying class with their strange new teacher Miss Granite, but Mildred's cat Tabby is almost too shaken to board the broom. When he falls onto the steep tile roof of the teacher's residential hall, Miss Granite snatches him in through her window and declares that she plans to keep him until Mildred shapes up her flying performance.

Despite the best advice of her friends, Mildred decides to sneak into Miss Granite's room to retrieve poor Tabby late at night. But when Miss Granite catches her inside, she reveals that she is the evil twin of Miss Cackle in disguise to execute a takeover of the Academy and locks Mildred in her dark closet. Lucky for Mildred, she's mastered those insect transformations, and quickly reciting a spell, she changes herself into an ant and slips out under the door to rouse her friends and find a way to save Miss Cackle's Academy before it is too late.

In The Worst Witch Saves the Day (Worst Witch), her latest in the Worst Witch series, Jill Murphy extends her kid-pleasing stories of a student witch who perseveres despite her ineptitude at all things witchy. It's an endearing combination of the wizard academy and the girls' boarding school story, with both loyal friends and a spiteful teacher's pet of a student witch who gives Mildred as many problems as does her natural-born clumsiness. Rounding out the colorful cast of characters are the kindly, wise headmistress, Miss Cackle, and a tough drill sergeant of a third form teacher, Mrs. Hardbroom. Mildred is a good-hearted, pigtailed youngster, a bit of a klutz, but plucky, resourceful, and always loyal to her school--if not to its every rule and convention. Murphy's old-fashioned and charming black and white ink illustrations add cozy humor to her easy-going text.

Other books in this British import series include The Worst Witch (Young Puffin Story Books), The Worst Witch at School (Worst Witch,) The Worst Witch in Trouble (Worst Witch), The Worst Witch Strikes Again: 2 (Young Puffin Books), Adventures of the Worst Witch, and A Bad Spell for the Worst Witch: 9 (Young Puffin Books).

House of Dreams: Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House by Haven Kimmel

Kaline Klattermaster is a boy who lives in two worlds. His inner world is a vivid, imaginative place where the boundaries are blurred, from his invisible bugle to a huge, multi-story tree house where he "lives" with his two powerful "brothers," Steve and Nicky, and their 100 puppies.

His real world is not so great. His meticulous father, who lines up objects in perfect symmetry and times his bath to the second, has gone somewhere for Alone Time, but where his mom doesn't tell. His mom, always a free spirit, seems a bit unhinged, knitting an afghan which is the size of the living room, leaving him in his bath for three hours, and disappearing into the attic in the middle of the night. Then there is school, where three huge bullies, whom he names Skracky, Devil Tooth, and Mr. Zero, shake him down for all his school supplies, his lunch, and even the pants from his school uniform (he wears two pairs daily, just in case). His teacher seems to be out of the room a lot, and the three scary guys terrorize the class in her absence.

Real life is almost unbearable at times, and Kaline survives only because of his ability to travel at ease between his two worlds. Kaline doesn't understand that others can't do the same. Here he is dealing with his father's world view:

He picked up the stuffed husky dog he slept with at night, Banjo, and held him tight. For sure Kaline loved Banjo, even though his dad had said Banjo "wasn't real." This "real" statement had caused Kaline to stare at his dad with disbelief. Could his father not see that Banjo COULD NOT GET ANY REALER? The dog was RIGHT THERE.

When he exhausts his initial school supplies and his savings to placate the school bullies and is down to his last pair of pants, Kaline turns to his imaginary brothers for help. Strangely, "Steve" suggests that he consult with his neighbor, the eccentric Mr. Osiris Putnaminski. Unsure of this advice, Kaline finally is forced by his rising anxiety to approach Osiris as he walks his dog, and unexpectedly, Mr. Putnaminski has some good counsel.

"What I've learned about bullies is that they are often stupid--forgive my unkindness--and they are often afraid. So sometimes it helps to use quite big words to confuse them. Make up the words if you have to.

I think you're much smarter than you give yourself credit for. But, honestly, Mr. Klattermaster? If I were you, I'd do the smartest thing of all: I'd tell my mother."

Kaline does. He stands up to the three thugs, and the timely intervention of his mother and the principal banishes the bullies from Kaline's outer world. Then Mr. Putnaminski takes him to see his elaborately hand-carved miniature model of his childhood hometown, complete with the train for which Osiris waited for his father's hoped for return from World War II; and the old man gives the boy a bit of wisdom on the separation between the inner life and outward reality:

"And did he? Did he come home?" asked Kaline.

"No, no, he didn't. Sometimes," he said, "I am tempted--now I say I am TEMPTED--to make a figure of him just stepping down out of that car. I could do it. I've been tempted to feel that, just for a moment."

"But you never."

Mr. P. shook his head. "No. It is better to be honest."

Haven Kimmel, author of the New York Times best seller A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana (Today Show Book Club #3) in his latest novel, Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House, has given us a unique insight into the rich, imaginative life of a unique and unforgettable character.

P-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-i-o-n! Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford

It's crunch time for Moxy Maxwell. It's August 23, the last day of summer vacation, and she hasn't even started reading Stuart Little, the summer reading assignment, and Mr. Flamingo, her new fourth grade teacher, is giving a quiz on it on the first day--tomorrow. What's more, tonight is the "Goodbye to Summer Splash," and Moxy is the eighth daisy petal in the water ballet. Now Mom has gone off to do afternoon errands, leaving written orders: If Stuart Little isn't read by five o'clock, no performance, no sparklers, no delicious daisy cake at the after-show party.

Now Moxy loves reading; she just doesn't like being told what to read. Not that she hasn't tried to spend time with the famous mouse-child. Moxy has taken the book everywhere she went all summer. It's fallen into the pool during rehearsal, baked in the sun inside the car, been doused with lemonade on the porch swing, and attacked by a jillion ants soon thereafter. Moxy has figured that she'd read it when she had some "in-between time," time after she's done with one activity and it's not time for another yet. But for Moxy there's always something to do in-between, and now it's crunch time.

Moxy means to read Stuart, but a full-blown case of procrastination frenzy sets in. Moxy realizes she hasn't really cleaned her room all summer, and she can't settle down to read in such a mess. With all her stuff shoved under the bed, she suddenly feels the need of a snack and a bit of fresh air. After all, Stuart Little does have 144 pages. Heading for the hammock outside, she grabs a fresh peach for sustenance, and then another. Her little sister Pansy and neighbor Sam eat a few with her for moral support.

Suddenly Moxy has an idea so stupendous that even she is flabbergasted. A peach orchard! It could pay for her whole college education (and dental school, if that's the Career Path she chooses)! And she already has a lot of peach seeds at hand, or at least in Pansy's and Sam's hands. She has plenty of backyard to plant them in, and her mom has left a water hose conveniently nearby in her famous, fabulous dahlia garden. Briskly ordering Sam and Pansy from her command post in the hammock, she barks out directions confidently. It all makes such good sense. Even her mom is going to realize that a girl who can pay her own college expenses doesn't need to read a silly book about a mouse!

The Peach Orchard Plan accomplished, Moxy decides it's time to look for her actual copy of Stuart Little--just as her mother returns to find her dahlias flooded and currently being excavated by Moxy's dog Mudd. Questions ensue, and blame is established.

"I am going to let you do your daisy routine tonight," said Mrs. Maxwell, "but do you know why?" It was the sort of question that wasn't asking for an answer, so Moxy was silent. "Because if you don't you will let the other seven petals down. It wouldn't be fair to them."

Moxy could not believe her luck.

"But I am not going to allow you to go to the party after the show. And do you know why?"

Moxy had a feeling she did.

At last it's down to the moment of truth. The water ballet is over, and Moxy is back in her room. She picks up the book and looks at the cover. Stuart actually is a pretty cute mouse. Then she really looks at Stuart's little red sports car.

What had she been thinking? Why ever did I spend the whole summer avoiding a ride in this little car with the fabulous fenders? was the last thing she said to herself before Stuart Little hit the accelerator and the two of them sped off.

Illustrated by black and white photos, purportedly taken by Moxy's brother Mark during the Summer of Procrastination, Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little is honest and funny and not at all off-putting, even for the Moxeys of the world. A new Moxy Maxwell adventure, Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Writing Thank-you Notes is forthcoming in August.