Scribble Witch: Notes in Class; Inky Willis

Scribble Witch: Notes In Class is a read that is as fun and crazy as its cover would suggest. Children will love it - it is full of primary school fun, an adorable paper witch, and things that are a teacher’s worst nightmare (and yes as a primary school teacher I speak from experience)…pencil toppers, pencil cases and secret notes being written in class.

Molly’s favourite things about school are her best friend Chloe, doodling and collecting pencil toppers. Things Molly doesn’t like about school are Emily, the goodie-two-shoes, and Mr. Stilton, the grumpy teacher.

Monday. Molly and Chloe are meant to be busy planning pirate stories but Molly’s world has just crumbled as Chloe has told her that she is moving to a new school and that Tuesday will be her last day. It’s kind of hard to care about pirate stories when your best friend has just told you the worst news ever and there’s also the added problem of trying to spell the word treasure.

Anyway, when Molly is given a dictionary by Mr. Stilton it isn’t the words that catch her attention but the doodling of a witch on a piece of scrap paper that she decides to sneak into her pencil pot. And everything was fine until it wasn’t fine and the witch was standing on her desk, right in front of her. Scribble Witch, or Notes to give her her proper name, loves to write notes - she likes to think of them as her secret ‘helpings’.

Notes’ timely arrival might just be the magic that Molly needs to keep her best friend in her life. But there’s a fine line between magic and mischief as Molly is about to discover…

Oh, what a thoroughly delightful read. It had me smiling and laughing all the way through. The school life and challenges that Molly experiences are perfectly relatable to any child of primary school age - spelling tests, leaky lunchboxes and friendship issues. Black and white illustrations, zany page layouts, notes, scribbles, doodles and the use of different fonts just add to the fun. Notes is a very unique character and readers will be laughing-out-loud at Notes’ own special language and her hilarious antics that always seem to do more harm than good. It is fair to say that Notes doesn’t quite understand all the school rules! The story is sweet and looks at friendship issues and the feelings and emotions that Molly experiences at the thought of her best friend leaving.

Filled with magic and mayhem, this is a hilarious and very enjoyable read for children who are growing in confidence and beginning to read chapter books. This is the first in a new series and I look forward to reading more about the antics of Scribble Witch.

Recommended for 6+.