From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Young listeners will be thrilled to know that not everything is as it seems in this nimble recording of Dale's debut novel about a boy who stumbles upon a magical, witch-filled world. When he boards the train from London to Canterbury to spend the Christmas holidays with his mother and stepfather, 12-year-old Joe Binks expects an uneventful trip. But what he finds is far from ordinary. Joe gets off the train at the wrong stop and soon finds himself befriended by a young witch named Twiggy and the members of her slightly misfit coven. Though he eventually makes it to his mother's house, circumstances pull him (and younger half-sister Esme) back to Twiggy and an intriguing competition among covens to find the missing page of an ancient spell book. Curless offers an upbeat reading sustained with notes of suspense and mystery befitting Dale's effervescent fantasy. Kids will be eager to follow the inviting Curless along for all the twists and turns here. Ages 8-12.
(Nov. 2004) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-7–When his father is called away at Christmas, Joe resigns himself to spending the holiday in Canterbury with his mother, stepdad, and seven-year-old half sister, Esme. After a train ride leaves him stranded at the wrong station, he borrows a large tricycle that seems to have a will of its own. It transports him to the ramshackle headquarters of the somewhat disreputable Dead-nettle Coven. The witch world is in an uproar over the theft of the world's most dangerous spell, and, apparently, somebody thinks that Joe has it. When Esme is kidnapped, he and young witch Twiggy are drawn into the hunt for the missing hex and uncover a plot to destroy the Earth's entire witch population. The incongruous chief villain is a bun-sporting librarian–whose first line actually is "Shh." All the expected fantasy elements are here–a secret, arcane culture coexisting with the mortal sphere, rhymed spells, and magic users with more-or-less good-natured disdain for mortals. The narration relies heavily on flashbacks and expositional dialogue. The settings, both real and fanciful, are convincingly portrayed. There are some mildly humorous touches, but some plot elements don't seem to mesh completely. Joe's discomfort with his second family is emphasized at the beginning, but it plays little role in the action and remains unresolved at the end. Diane Duane's "Young Wizards" series (Harcourt) and Jill Murphy's "Worst Witch" books (Candlewick) have more fully realized magical worlds.
–Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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