WHIZZ! POP! GRANNY, STOP!

Granny sure knows how to cast a spell, but her granddaughter, who narrates, just wants to spend time getting ready for her upcoming birthday party without using the special “Helping Kit.”

Readers may think it would be cool to have a grandmother who is a witch, but Granny’s magic tricks frequently yield unexpected and somewhat disastrous results: A bad-hair-day fix leaves the granddaughter with a hot pink bouffant do, for instance. So Granny agrees to help bake a cake from scratch and sew together a new dress from some “found…strips of red.” Kids will snicker at the ramshackle results, but the granddaughter could not be happier with the less-than-perfect preparations since all has been “made with tons of love.” The guests arrive, and everyone has fun. But afterward, Granny and her granddaughter are left with a colossal mess. Granny comes to the rescue with a “Whizz! Pop!” that thoroughly cleans everything up just in time for one last birthday gift. The final spread dramatically differs from the dominant pastel pinks, blues and grays that have come before to show a fireworks “Happy Birthday” message brightly popping against the black night sky.

Corderoy and Berger have concocted a splendid follow-up (Hubble, Bubble, Granny Trouble, 2012) full of gentle humor spotlighting the special relationship between grandmothers and granddaughters.