Month: June 2018

Little Witch: Hauntings & Hexes

On By LisaIn Aleesah Darlison, Junior Fiction, Kids, Little Witch series3 Comments

Little Witch: Hauntings & Hexes is written by Australian author Aleesah Darlison and is published by Big Sky Publishing. Aleesah Darlison has written over 36 books and is an award-winning author. This book was illustrated by Christine Schiedel and wouldn’t have made it on the shelves if Aleesah or Christine wouldn’t have started on it.

Little Witch: Hauntings & Hexes is book number 2 in the LITTLE WITCH Series.

The summer holidays are ending, and it is time for Courtney to start at her new school in Mixton Bay. But making new friends, doing lessons, working on homework and practising her witchcraft might be a bit too much for her. All Courtney wishes for is that she doesn’t have to go to school and that the summer holidays won’t end! Courtney has been practising her witchcraft during the holidays and has been trying to make her own spells but they don’t work!

Fitting in at school might not be the easiest thing to do for Courtney, as she has way too many things on her mind, as well as trying to make friends and be a normal schoolgirl. On her first day Courtney has too many butterflies in her tummy and tries a spell to get rid of them, but… the spell goes wrong!

As Courtney’s powers increase, she learns more and more, and the challenges that she face are harder and require lots of concentration and the situations start to intensify.  When Courtney accidentally lets a bad, naughty and troublesome spirit into the world, things get out of control. When Courtney goes to the cemetery to visit her grandmother’s grave, she finds an unknown family crypt, while she is trying to get out of the rain. There she meets a ghost and gets scared out of her wits! Desperate to advance in the ways of witchcraft, Courtney pushes herself to her limits, that then lead to lots of mistakes.

Things start to get dangerous for Courtney and the people closest to her. It is up to Courtney, her grandmother’s magical cat, Ink, and her witch friends to save the day. Will things turn out alright after all? If you would like to find out what happens next, pick up a copy of this fantastic book and read to the end.

This book is a great read, exciting and full of adventure! I love this book because I was looking for something new to read, and I stumbled upon it in the school library, and couldn’t stop reading till the very end. Aleesah Darlison let her imagination run loose and wrote an AMAZING book, which builds a whole new world in our minds as we read through Courtney’s adventures.

If you would like to see the trailer for the LITTLE WITCH series, you can watch it below:

Alice-Miranda in Scotland

On By LisaIn Alice-Miranda series, Jacqueline Harvey, Junior FictionLeave a comment

Alice-Miranda in Scotland is written by Jacqueline Harvey and illustrated by J. Yi.

It is book  number 17 from the ALICE-MIRANDA Series.

Alice-Miranda and friends are visiting Scotland to attend the Queen’s Colours Youth Leadership Program, and they will be joined by some old friends from earlier books. But, as you would expect, things don’t always go as planned. Alice-Miranda’s invitation gets misplaced and she isn’t sure she can attend, until her friend, Millie, saves the day and sorts things out.

However, as Alice-Miranda is making  new friends, enjoying her sight-seeing and participating in fun activities, she has a funny feeling nagging at her, and she is determined to find out what is going on. She is ready to learn new skills and conquer the challenges that they face, as well as settle a few fiery feuds between friends!

The youth program is being run by some interesting characters including, Miss Cranna, who has a mysterious and dark secret, Miss Stuart who is very bad tempered, and Mr Ferguson, who speaks a little funny sometimes. The tournament reaches its climax and tempers start to fray when the friends go on a scavenger hunt that turns out to be an escape situation!

While we read this book, we become even more curious to discover what Miss Cranna’s secret is and why/where she is going in the middle of the night. Is there maybe another reason that these particular children were chosen for the youth program? If you want to find out more, then pick up a copy of this amazing, glamorous story and read this exciting adventure today.

Jacqueline Harvey has gotten her readers used to Alice-Miranda’s resourcefulness by now. As the beloved character is easily making friends with her kindness, openness, generosity and bubbly personality, we also came to expect that Alice-Miranda is saving the day and setting things right. Will this be true for Alice-Miranda’s adventure in Scotland?

I very much enjoyed Alice-Miranda in Scotland as it is a captivating, action-packed and well written story, with a very satisfying plot and unexpected conclusion. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone between 8 and 14 (but my mum also sneak-peaked and read it when I wasn’t looking). Now I’m looking forward to Alice-Miranda’s next adventure in book number 18.

If you would like to see Jacqueline Harvey read a fragment of Alice-Miranda in Scotland during the book launch at Dymocks on June 2, you can watch it below: