Lucy Newton, messy magic by Phoebe McArthur

In the fourth book about Lucy Newton’s young but eventful life, Lucy has been ordered to clean her messy room but forbidden to use magic. The task is overwhelming but something strange happens when Lucy takes a break.  She returns to find her room tidy. But what is really troubling is the disappearance of her doll Vassilisa.

Lucy confides in Herbert, the sentient book and they follow the barely glimpsed ghost,  who could be responsible, into the dark woods. Vassilisa must have real sentimental value for Lucy to venture anywhere near the forest.  After a run-in with bats and wolves, Thomas & Hodge join the search party. Like Herbert, the two cats also talk. 

Vassilisa is eventually found in the possession of a Goblin Girl, who believed she had good reason to rescue Vassilisa. After the mix-up is cleared up and the doll returned, Lucy and her friends decide to help the Goblin princess, Em, find her way home. The problem is that her home lies somewhere beyond the cave guarded by a threatening ‘dragon’ who, in the tradition of The Wizard of Oz, is actually not what it seems. 

Can Lucy, Em and the others, answer the riddle posed by the ‘dragon’ and make it back home for some well earned sleep? 

Lucy Newton, Little Witch was shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Book Awards in 2019, and Lucy Newton, messy magic is a complex narrative for the realistic communication children expect to occur between characters. The theme of magic provides the desirable sense of the ridiculous yet there are opportunities for language prediction and the use of inference. McArthur’s own descriptive drawings help scaffold meaning for very young readers of chapter books. (61p).

Themes: Magic, Mystery, Family.

Deborah Robins