Diary of an Accidental Witch: 1

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Unfortunately, however, Bea's dad makes a mistake, enrolling her in the School of Extraordinary Arts! The story follows Bea's plight to fit in somewhere she was never designed to be, where she finds support in the oddest of places and learns that sometimes what you were certain you knew was so far from the truth they aren't recognisable. Including the things you were certain you knew about yourself.

I was immediately transported into Bea's world, where she is surrounded by mystery and magic. The story, told from Bea's point of view, is thoroughly entertaining and I can imagine children in classrooms from Year 2+ enjoying this as a class read, where they can discuss Bea's mishaps after they finish laughing! I loved the diary-entry style of this story which will appeal to lots of young readers with its use of bold and capital letters, crossing outs, lists and footnotes. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and complement the humour and charm of this story perfectly.I loved seeing Bea make friends. She already had one, a guy from next door who I liked but at other times found a bit judgmental, but with Witch School she makes more. Accidental Witch has been likened by many to Jill Murphy’s iconic Worst Witch stories. High praise but 100% earned in my opinion. The illustrations in this book were just a pure delight! They were cute and fun and I loved how the characters were drawn.

However the diary format and contemporary style of writing, along with Katie Saunders charming illustrations, give the Cargills’ series a fresh edge that definitely elevates to the top of the witch school genre.The story has plenty of hilarious moments as well as very sweet ones too. I adore the relationship between Bea and Ash, plus the weather in Little Spellshire is certainly amusing. I also love how Bea tries to hide everything about her schooling from her father who doesn’t seem to have worked out given the village’s title, the names of the shops, the number of cats roaming around, the strange weather, plus, Bea’s uniform that this town could be magical. 🙂

The book is illustrated perfectly throughout by Katie Saunders and would be perfect for all would be witches of 7 years and up. I loved the way that Bea struggles so much to fit in, and everything at the witch school is so strange and weird to her. We all feel like that sometimes. She also feels really inadequate with her school work because she can't do magic. But I loved how her teachers encourage her and she begins to discover that she does have certain skills. I loved the book. A dad decides to move, screws up the appliance for school. His daughter is at a witches school but she isn't a witch...Originally from the Scottish Highlands, Perdita spent many years as a barrister before turning to writing fiction. I absolutely LOVED that this book was written as a diary, it just made it all even more fun and made me connect with Bea more. Diary of an Accidental Witch is written diary-wise, which makes it a lot easier to read for kids aged 7-8. Honor, having recently graduated from Oxford, is working on fiction and non-fiction writing projects as well as studying for a Masters at The Courtauld Institute. There are really adorable illustrations throughout the book that bring out the comedy in the story!