Biggest Secret Ever!

February 15, 2024
Heidi Heckelbeck is a witch and first-year student at Broomfield Academy, a boarding school that educates magical and nonmagical kids alike. Heidi's an ordinary tween, concerned with clothes, friendships, crushes (currently on Nick Lee, who's not in the School of Magic), and her tenuous relationship with Melanie, her often-mean "broommate" and acquaintance from home. She's also excited about learning witchcraft and is pleased to receive private magic lessons from Mrs. Kettledrum. Her teacher instructs her in calming meditation techniques as a prelude to mind-reading and emergency spells. Sometimes Heidi writes spells enthusiastically but incorrectly, however, with unintended consequences. She also faces a difficult decision about revealing a big secret about new friend Isabelle. Heidi pushes the boundaries of appropriate behavior (both in the real world and the magical one) and must think hard about self-discipline. Breezy and fun, this volume will satisfy devotees who have enjoyed following this engaging character since she was in elementary school, with each entry slowly but surely moving up in complexity as Heidi grows and becomes a little more serious. Her latest adventures are delivered with the usual humorous grayscale illustrations and fonts that vary in size and style, moving the story along quickly. The volume will entice new fans, welcome reluctant readers, and please those who have been awaiting Heidi's latest exploits. Isabelle reads Black; other central characters are cued white. Fun middle school antics with a dollop of light magic and considerations of loyalty. (Fiction. 9-12)

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March 1, 2024

Gr 3-7-In this latest entry of the "Middle School and Other Disasters" series about witch-in-training Heidi Heckelbeck, Heidi is excited to be chosen for private magic lessons with Mrs. Kettledrum, beginning with meditation techniques to help her master mind-reading. She has a blossoming crush on a non-magical student named Nick, and a new friend named Isabelle. Everything is going well until she discovers that Isabelle has a big secret: she is a princess from a magical royal family. Heidi promises Isabelle she won't tell anyone, but she is bursting to share the big news, and accidentally reveals it to her gossipy roommate Melanie Maplethorpe. She tries to use an emergency spell on Melanie to make her forget Isabelle's secret, but in the process makes Melanie forget who Heidi is! Luckily, Mrs. Kettledrum can read Heidi's thoughts and helps her with a new emergency spell to undo her mistake without revealing Isabelle's secret. This novel is full of relatable middle school experiences: crushes, secrets, navigating new and old friendships, and struggling to do the right thing. Although it assumes some knowledge of the previous books, new readers will still be able to understand and engage with the story. The variable font size and cartoon-style black-and-white drawings by Abramskaya add to the book's readability and charm. Although the background of the characters is never explicitly stated, Heidi, and many of the other main characters, appear white in illustrations, while Isabelle and Nick have darker skin. VERDICT A solid new addition for Heidi Hecklebeck fans that could also serve as an entry point for new readers.-Ashley Larsen

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