First of the series by Frank Cammuso. New York, NY: Amulet Books, 2013
This is a fabulously fun series about a young witch (living in a non-witch community) and her exploits in and out of school. The first volume explores her spelling problems (as in bewitching spells). They bizarrely backfire because she somehow strings together the wrong sequence of words.
The title gives us only a hint of the word play readers will explore and ends with one of the wildest Spelling Bees ever. While the illustrations, design, and story are all geared for young readers, the vocabulary is advanced.
It has received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal 2013 Top 10 graphic novels.
See how to use this book to teach close reading and reading comprehension (pp. 90-95) and literary devices (pp.101-102) in Worth A Thousand Words: Using Graphic Novels to Teach Visual and Verbal Literacy.
Grades 1-4