The Witchling’s Wish
by Lu Fraser; illus. by Sarah Massini
Preschool, Primary    Bloomsbury    32 pp.    g
7/22    978-1-5476-0906-2    $17.99
e-book ed.  978-1-5476-0907-9    $12.59

A lonely little witch who lives in a cozy cave wants to magic herself a friend, but she’s missing a key ingredient for her spell: “some furriness from a one-eyed teddy bear.” She imagines a “huge and hairy…extremely scary” creature; nevertheless, she’s determined to do whatever it takes and bravely heads out on her broom. Her crystal ball guides her to young Lily and her (not terrifying) well-loved bear, Ted, who work their own friendship magic on the witchling: “That’s what a friend would do! / You thought of me, you thought of Ted, / you didn’t think of…YOU!” Fraser’s warm rhyming text and ­Massini’s fanciful mixed-media illustrations cast an inviting spell.

From the September/October 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.