Wanda's First Day

Mum shouting, ‘Remember to be wicked at school,’ makes a great start to this book, on the theme of being different. There are talking points on every spread, for each page is filled with labelled potions, bubble-trouble, moth juice or frogspawn and rat tail yogurt. Wanda the witch flies off to school on her very first day, but feels somewhat out of place on arrival. The ‘pink’ pictures tell us she is in a fairy classroom, where beautiful Miss Dewdrop, the teacher, brushes her worries aside, saying everyone feels strange on their first day. But, no wings, no wand, just a broomstick, and tentacle sandwiches to share with fairy Willowpeachbreath? These differences certainly confuse Wanda. An interesting, unexpected ending, and the illustrations reveal lots which is unspoken in the text, to delight the child used to reading pictures.