The Worst Witch Strikes Again by Jill Murphy

Mildred is back at school.  What's going to happen now???

Candlewick Books and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be republished on August 5th, so look for a copy then.

Mildred comes back to school and doesn't even make it through the first day without being put on probation.  Geez, Ms. H has it out for her.  The only reason she has a strange kitten as a familiar is because Ms. H forced it on her.  Everyone else has a pure black cat but not Mildred.  Hers has some white patches here and there.  And not only that, it doesn't like riding a broom...

If that's not bad enough, there's a new student there that is real tall and totally boring.  It's just Mildred's luck to get stuck showing her around and mentoring her.  Ms. H thinks it will make her behave better.  Maud gets mad because Mildred has a new friend, so she goes into the enemy camp to make her jealous.  And Enid, the new student, is nowhere near as boring as expected.

For example, she has a monkey familiar instead of a cat.  Mildred knows she'll get in trouble for that, so she goes up at lunch to quiet it down and maybe hide it before it's discovered.  Unfortunately, it scoots out of the room before she even sees it and the chase is on.  To get it back, she finds herself getting into trouble again.  Then Ms. H thinks she's the one who changed the cat (the original creature) into a monkey.

In the meantime, Ethel is still being a pain.  Mildred is the most patient young person I know and somehow that always works for her.  

This is written for younger children and it's a short fun read.  This series is also excellent for reading aloud.  I'm having fun following Mildred's school days and I'm sure young ones will, too.