Grambling (Can I Have a Stegosaurus, Mom? Can I? Please?!?!) swoops down on a broomstick of her own and pulls readers aboard for some full-throttle storytelling. A feisty and accomplished witch named Bella wants to "live in a big castle, and wear silk gowns, dainty glass slippers, and a jeweled crown." Unable to cast a spell on herself that will do the job, she settles on marrying a prince—and because this pointy-hatted heroine lives in a witty hodgepodge world that's a cross between Once Upon a Time and the 21st century, she finds what she's looking for in the personal ads. A familiar lesson about the value of self-esteem lurks in these pages (Bella feels the appropriately witchy wart on the end of her nose makes her "more beautiful than she already was"), but her Prince Charming's uncanny resemblance to Frankenstein makes the moral easy to swallow. Grambling's jaunty matter-of-factness gets ratcheted up to slapstick in Love's (First Day Jitters) busy if slightly unappetizing pictures. Heavy on bruised purples and greens, the pictures are chockablock with creepy details, from Bella's fingerless fishnet gauntlets and pea-colored fingernails to her cat's spike collar. Crowded spreads add to the visual discomfort—an effect that might just strike the target audience as gleeful mayhem. Ages 3-9. (July)
