Review – Bella Broomstick by Lou Kuenzler
I have recently read this fun, magical MG read by Lou Kuenzler, Bella Broomstick which was released on the 7th January 2016 and I loved it and I am so over the moon to be part of the wonderful blog tour for this book!
This book had me smiling so much. It was adorable!
For my stop on the blog tour I am going to share my thoughts on the book and post a review!
A huge thank you to Faye Rogers and Lou Kuenzler for having me on this wonderful tour and for sending me the book to read.
This delightful new series, full of doodle illustrations and themes of friendship and fitting in, will have young readers bewitched from the very first page! Bella Broomstick is a hopeless witch. So hopeless that nasty Aunt Hemlock is sending her to live in Person World – with the warning that she must never do magic again! But when Bella finds a kitten in trouble, a spell is the only way to rescue it. What is Bella to do? For where there is magic, trouble is never far away!
Publisher – Scholastic UK
Published – 7th January 2016
Pages – 198 pages
Format – Paperback and E-book
Category – MG Fantasy
Source – I was sent a copy of this book by the wonderful people at Scholastic as part of the blog tour organised by Faye Rogers. This does not affect my review or my opinions in any way and am delighted to write an honest review. Thank you Scholastic for sending this to me to read and to Faye for organising!
** Please note Tales Of Yesterday Reviews are written as spoiler free as possible**
TASK ONE – Using your blog, your typing fingers and your so called sense of humour Chelley Toy write a review of Bella Broomstick for the wonderful Bella Broomstick Blog Tour!
“Belladonna Broomstick, you are the most hopeless young witch in the whole of the Magic Realm!”
Wow! Right you crazy crocodiles! I was so very excited to be asked to be a part of the blog tour to celebrate the release of this magical book. I threw out my smart busyness person clothes and handybag and donned my witches outfit and hat in celebration and with a Swish Swish Swish I was transported into the world of the wonderful Bella Broomstick!
PING!
As the quote above suggests Bella Broomstick is the most hopeless witch in the whole of the magic realm. She can talk to animals, but has no warts and can do no magic or when she does it goes horribly wrong (poor Dr Rattlebone). She has even failed her entrance exam at Creepy Castle School three times! Poor Bella Broomstick is as useless as a leaky cauldron and she is living a miserable existence with her Aunt Hemlock in the magic realm.
Bella’s awful Aunt Hemlock who has seven warts that wobble like nettle jelly, picks her teeth with chicken bones and smells of rotten eggs, garlic and cheesy feet (ewwwwww) along with her horrible leather headed bully of a chameleon Wane decide that Bella has to go and live in the person world where she is banned from doing magic!
“I’ll dip you in porridge and gobble you up like that spider”
Scuttling Scorpions! Aunt Hemlock is terrifying how could she do that to poor Bella and….well who would eat a poor little spider!
*snatches spider off the wall and swallows whole*
Nom!
Anyway moving swiftly on….. *coughs*
I read this book in virtually one sitting! And that wasn’t through fear of Aunt Hemlock getting hold of me and turning me into a guinea pig, handy bag or worse….maggot mush stew! No! Not at all! Straight from the offset this book was a joy to read. Full of magic, friendships, family and a fabulous feathery flamingo pen! Lou Kuenzler introduces you to two different worlds, the magic realm and the person world whilst fun, danger and the Sellwell Department Store Catalogue awaits.
Bella is adorable and full of fun, compassion and humour and I loved her as a character. Really routing for her to be happy and loved. I loved reading about Bella experiencing the person world for the first time. Seeing a toilet flush, having a bath, visiting the Sellwell Department Store and being happy!
I used to love the Worst Witch books when I was younger and reading Bella Broomstick has made me want to revisit them again!
Whilst I loved all of the characters in this book my favourite was the little kitten that Bella rescues, Rascal! Awwwwww I loved him so much!
The illustrations by Kyan Cheng in the book are just perfect and act as a source of humour also! I especially loved the picture of the chameleon Wane as a Lizard-shaped salt shaker and a handybag…oh how I chuckled at his expense!
I hope Aunt Hemlock didn’t hear me say this!
*legs shake like a bowl of newt-eye trifle*
This is the first book in a brand new series and jiggling jellyfish it got off to an amazing start! Bella learns that she may not need magic and being a hopeless witch isn’t the end of the world. It also embraces love and family and belonging and I think this is a beautiful message to send out to many children and adults that will read this book.
I can’t wait to read about more Bella Broomstick adventures and hopes that Aunt Hemlock doesn’t join the person world any time soon! She has some rather disgusting habits and….
Oh fizzing ferrets! She heard me that time! Aunt Hemlock is here again! Oh spinning spiders! She wants to take me for a ride on her broomstick….last time she did that I felt a bit Broom-sick!
He he he laughing ladybirds! I’m here all week!
SWISH, SWISH, SWISH….
POOF!
Oh pickled porcupines! She’s turned me into a guinea pig hasn’t she!
Now all I can think about is how I want to eat a carrot!
I award this book 4 out of 5 Tales Of Yesterday Books!
You can buy Bella Bromstick (Bella Broomstick #1) here
Or why not add it to Goodreads here
About Lou Kuenzler
Lou Kuenzler likes to write stories which make children laugh.
Her popular SHRINKING VIOLET books are funny, action-packed adventures about a little girl who suddenly shrinks …. Think Mrs Pepperpot with a 21st century twist!
And then Lou’s next series PRINCESS DISGRACE introduces the clumsiest princess ever in a comic romp through life at a posh princess academy – unicorns, dragons and japes galore!
For slightly younger readers, Lou’s AESOP’S AWESOME RYHMES add a comic, rhyming twist to the classic moral tales.
While JACK SPLAT: SUPERFLY PEST and JACK SPLAT: DOG’S DINNER tell the fly-on-the-wall adventures of … well, of a fly!
You can find out more about Lou on her website here
Or why not follow Lou on Twitter using @loukuenzler
Or find Lou’s Goodreads page here
You can buy Bella Bromstick (Bella Broomstick #1) here
Blog Tour
Catch up of follow the rest of this wonderful blog tour by checking out the stops below
Monday 4th January
Tuesday 5th January
Wednesday 6th January
Thursday 7th January
Friday 8th January
Saturday 9th January
Sunday 10th January
You can find a Q&A with Lou Kuenzler here
Have you read Bella Broomstick? What did you think? Has this review made you want to go grab a copy? I would love to here from you! Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this review or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy!
Happy Reading
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[…] You can find a review of the first Bella Broomstick here […]