THE CURSED FIRST TERM OF ZELDA STITCH

Zelda Stitch isn’t much of a witch – she’s hoping she’ll make a better primary school teacher. But if the vice principal finds out about her, her dream will go up in a puff of smoke.

‘Zelda rides a broomstick!’ ‘Zelda’s got a bat-friend!’ ‘Zelda smells like toadstools!’ ‘Witch! Witch! Witch!’ It was bad enough when I was eleven years old. But if they sniff me out now, it’ll be a disaster. Zelda Stitch isn’t much of a witch – she’s hoping she’ll make a better primary school teacher. But if the vice principal finds out about her, her dream will go up in a puff of smoke. Keeping her magic secret isn’t the only trouble bubbling in Zelda’s classroom: there’s wild-child Zinnia, lonely Eleanor, secretive Phoebe (who MUST be a spy for her aunt, the vice principal!) and a hairy, eight-legged visitor called Jeremy. Not to men on the nits... With NO HELP AT ALL from her disagreeable cat Barnaby, Zelda must learn to be a be er teacher, a be er friend and a be er witch – even if that means taking broomstick lessons. From a house bursting with enchanted cinnamon doughnuts to a crazy collision with a giant inflatable slide, Zelda’s diary of her first term is a cauldron full of laughs. Nicki Greenberg is an Australian writer and illustrator. She is the creator of the award-winning ‘staged-on-the- page’ adapta on of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and of the graphic adapta on of F. Sco Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Inspired by her own young children, Nicki has also wri en and illustrated several picture books for younger readers including Monkey Red Monkey Blue, BOM! went the Bear, The Naugh est Reindeer series, Teddy Took the Train and My Dog Dash. www.nickigreenberg.com; nickigreenberg.blogspot.com