Potion Commotion
Peter Bently and Sernir Isik
Scholastic Children’s Books
There are echoes of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and The Magic Porridge Pot in this rhyming tale of magic and mayhem. With warnings of a dragon in the vicinity, Mum pops out shopping leaving young Betty alone in the house. A risky thing to do, you’re probably already thinking; all the more so when Betty decides to mix up a culinary treat for when Mum comes home. Into the pot goes pretty much everything the young miss can lay her hands on …

then she utters Mum’s cooking spell, stands back and waits.

Before long the cauldron is bubbling and spilling all over the floor and out the cottage door but there’s no way Betty can halt its progress– she’s forgotten the words of the stopping spell her mum uses. Goo foams, froths and flows onto the road and through the whole town. Luckily Mum arrives in the nick of time. She halts the gloop in its tracks but then what should also fly along but the dragon and it’s ready for a human feast.

Can anything be done to avert disaster?
Lively cartoon style illustrations and Bently’s fast-flowing narrative together create a recipe for a diverting read aloud for Hallowe’en or any time of the year.