cover image Boo-La-La Witch Spa

Boo-La-La Witch Spa

Samantha Berger, illus. by Isabel Roxas. Dial, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-3886-7

Halloween can be exhausting, so a chestnut-haired young witch heads to Witch Spa to rejuvenate. Doted upon by impish, blobby, and furry creatures, she enjoys a “Broom Bristle Facial,” naps in a pool of snail drool, and receives a “Hag Stone Massage from a highly skilled troll.” Berger’s (Snoozefest) rhymes can occasionally get convoluted (“The chef brings her lunch,/ it’s Hex-Mex and Jinx-Drinks,/ but the Candy Corn Flan is/ the best, the witch thinks”), but most are a lot of fun: “Then it’s off for a soak in a cauldron of mold/ from four hundred fungi, four hundred years old.” Roxas’s (The Case of the Missing Donut) spa has a hint of Hogwarts, but with more facials, cushy batik-print pillows, and gigantic jewel-tone fungi. Who knew gross could be so glam? Ages 3–5. Author’s agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Illustrator’s agency: Pippin Properties. (Aug.)