Review Detail

GHOSTLY GETAWAY was another delightful installment in the DIARY OF AN ACCIDENTAL WITCH series. This chapter book series includes plenty of illustrations alongside Bea's diary entries, chronicling her life and school. In this book, her class has been taken on a sleepover fieldtrip to Cadabra Castle, which is the site of a lot of witchy history - and possibly haunted.

What I loved: This is such a great format that presents a new twist on a chapter book, as the story is told through Bea's diary entries, which also have a lot of dialogue and storytelling (along with personal interjections of thoughts/feelings). Bea grew up as an Ordinary (someone without magic) but through a mishap ended up at a school for witches, where she has been learning magic. This adds loads of fun, especially as she and her friends are navigating this trip away from home with their classmates, some of whom they do not get along with at all.

The point of the trip is to learn about witchy cooperation and build these skills amongst their class. Although the teachers have good intentions, it gets off to a rocky start and the tasks they are given do not seem to be resolving things. Along the way, Bea and friends begin to learn about teamwork and how to work with people that you may not always like. These are valuable lessons for readers of all ages.

The story is told with plenty of humor and heart, and it's easy to get lost in the writing style. This is great for the early and middle elementary school ages, who will enjoy reading along and experiencing Bea's witchy life while also seeing the illustrations throughout. Other themes around communication (particularly with Bea's father), friendship, and kindness are really great for the intended audience.

What left me wanting more: As a small thing, since this takes place over only a few days, there are not great stopping places in the middle. It's broken by times during the days, but these don't always have a clear break (only with the days). There is also a troubling element where Bea keeps the witchy things she does from her father, who does not know about magic, but this is relatively minor in this book as she is not around him (and can be resolved with a discussion of why we don't keep secrets from parents).

Final verdict: GHOSTLY GETAWAY is a fun new installment in the DIARY OF AN ACCIDENTAL WITCH series that explores friendship, teamwork, and magic.