Secret Spells

If you like diary stories, you’ll want to check out New Girl: Diary of an Accidental Witch by Perdita and Honor Cargill, the first book in a new series.

Bea Black and her dad just moved to the town of Little Spellshire. When Dad accidentally enrolls Bea in a magical school, she has to juggle new and different classes, making friends, looking after the class frog, learning to fly on a broom without falling off, and not letting on to her father about the secret of her new school. As if that’s not bad enough, Winter Solstice is only four weeks away, and the School of Extraordinary Arts will be competing against Spellshire Academy, the school her best friend, Ash, attends. Oh, and he doesn’t know her school’s secret either, and if she tells him, it might not end up great for either of them.

This first book in the Diary of an Accidental Witch series is a fun one. It will appeal to readers 6 – 9 because it takes a main character struggling with a lot of what they do–new school, making new friends while trying to stay connected to old ones, fitting in, balancing responsibilities, and embarrassing parents–and puts all that in a magical setting filled with unique characters. The Sports Day competition and the Winter Solstice Bonfire Party add an additional hurdle for Bea to jump as she struggles with being the new girl. Great illustrations by Katie Saunders add a fun element to the story.

I look forward to more adventures from Bea Black and friends.

Secret Spells (Diary of an Accidental Witch, #4) written by Perdita Cargill and Honor Cargill, Illustrated by Katie Saunders is told from the perspective of eleven year old Bea via her diary entries and is about the main character and her classmates preparing for the Winter Solstice Grand Tournament, and they will be competing against a non-magical school, so no magic will be allowed! Which school will win?

A huge thank you goes out to NetGalley for giving me an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Secret Spells (Diary of an Accidental Witch, #4) by Perdita Cargill and Honor Cargill and Illustrated by Katie Saunders for free in exchange for my honest review. I was intrigued by the book title and cover art and was thrilled to be approved to read this book.

This book is somewhat similar to The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy. The main character goes to a school for witches where there are some mishaps while casting some spells. Those are really the only similarities between the two books.

I liked the way the story was told in a diary entry format as I feel like this makes it easier for the target audience of six to nine year olds to read and process the storyline. It could be read as a stand alone book, but I would recommend reading the series in order just so you have the entire backstory up front.

Despite Secret Spells being a fantasy novel for children, I felt like how the characters reacted to different situations was quite believable. With that being said, the reader doesn't really get an in depth look at the characters, but I guess that's to be expected in a book for young readers. Four out of five stars.

I really liked this book if there're any more please email me teady486521@yahoo.com
Thankyou I would also like a hard or soft copy if that's possible