LUCY LANCASTER HAS A SECRET

Meet Lucy Lancaster, best friend of series superstar Heidi Heckelbeck.

Though Heidi appears in this book, along with the girls’ other BFF, Bruce Bickerson, Lucy takes center stage. After Mrs. Welli assigns Bryce Beltran to be Lucy’s science class partner, Bryce isn’t pleased—both girls wanted to work with their own friends—and all but slams her desk into Lucy’s. Lucy wishes she could have a more polite and compliant partner like Heidi or Bruce. Suddenly she begins hiccupping, and Bryce instantly becomes sweetly agreeable. This is wonderful…isn’t it? More strange things occur; Lucy’s perplexed. Then she hiccups again and inadvertently finds herself sowing classroom chaos. Ms. Egli, the alert town librarian who’s visiting the class, notices, gives Lucy a golden library card with access to the Magical Library, and helps her to understand her powers. Like Heidi (though neither girl is yet aware of the other’s gift), Lucy is a witch! Engaging characters, a well-crafted setting, and quick pacing perfectly suit the target audience; Lucy promises to be a popular series star herself. Burris’ many illustrations portray Lucy with black curls, brown skin, and star-festooned glasses. Bryce and Ms. Egli are brown-skinned; most other figures are light-skinned.

This series spinoff still brings the magic.