Bibbety-Bobbity-Boo! (And Booger Cookies, too)

There's no voice on the outside that can tell you more than the voice on the inside. (From Be the One with the Wand, chapter nine).

Hunky Dory is a witch. And not just any witch. According to her mother she will be "the wickedest witch wherever the four winds blow." She is at the head of her class when it comes to casting spells, brewing potions, and turning handsome princes into frogs, much to the envy of the others in her coven.

Despite her natural witching abilities, Hunky has a strong desire to be something else. Something....good. More specifically, she wants to use her witchcraft to practice wishcraft. Yes, you read that correctly: The wickedest witch wants to trade in her nefarious schemes to become--oh boy get ready for this--a fairy godmother. (Insert collective gasps here.) As you can imagine, this does not go over well.

Hunky gets kicked out of Miss Harbinger's class and is thrown out of her own mother's cave to boot. Confused, hurt, and alone, Hunky heads for the woods where she conjures up a house made of chocolate chip cookie dough (gingerbread is so overrated) and charges people one gold coin to grant their wishes from the bottom of a well. Among the characters who visit her are: Goldilocks (who helps herself to anything in the house--typical), Little Red Riding Hood (who wishes for a jean jacket to replace her outrageously uncool red cape), Wolf (who wishes for a grandmother costume--weirdo), and the devilishly handsome Rumpelstiltskin (who becomes a surprising friend despite his evil ways).

To reunite with her mother, Hunky grants her a deep down, remove-the-corn-husk to find it wish that even her mother herself doesn't know she wants. As it turns out, her wish was to be an aunt, so a baby appears for Auntie Malice. (Hunky is crazy-good at pulling babies out of nowhere.) As you can imagine, all things cute, cuddly, and giggly are incredibly revolting to a witch, so Hunky's mother is less than pleased to have a cooing baby in her care.

"Hunky, you've really gone too far this time. This baby doesn't even speak the same language as we do. And the things that come out of that baby's behind are about a million times more foul than anything I could have concocted in my cauldron." (I love that last line!)

Top 3 Things I Love About this Book:

1.) The fantastically unusual names of the characters. (Sinus Infection, Acid Reflux, and Frantic Search being my favorites.)

2.) It teaches you a lesson without you even knowing that you are being taught a lesson. (Esme is sneaky like that!)

3.) It includes a recipe for cookies :)

Recipe to Read By: Hunky's Booger Cookies

Don't eat too many of these disgustingly good cookies, or you'll be too heavy for your broomstick to carry you, as Hunky would say.

You can find the recipe on Esme's blog or by flipping to the end of the book.

This post is dedicated to my book-eating dog who also, quite coincidentally, loves to eat boogers.

Thank you, Kendall, for not eating this one.