When Rosie Staples buys a curious Wishing Stone from the Mad Magic Shop (Rosie loves to perform magic tricks), she has one thing in mind - she wants the lead in the school play and will do anything to beat regular limelight hogger, Maddison Diamond, to it.
But this Wishing Stone must NOT be wished upon whilst a grandmother is standing on her head in the same household, and the fine print must be read excrutiatingly carefully before wishing... for example, one must take the utmost care that any cats are not be wriggling their bums at the same time as the wish, lightning must not be striking anywhere in the world and no seagulls must be standing on one leg begging chips.
Of course, the chances of all this not happening are low, so when Rosie makes her wish, all manner of kooky things occur, most especially since Rosie failed to follow rule No. 1 of Wishing - ask your question simply and end it in a full stop.
Being a chatterer who couldn't help but elaborate (read: rant and rave) or her wish, it soon becomes an essay and the young school girl quickly discovers the error of her ways (read the fine print!)... she wakes the next morning with half the brain of Maddison and half her own remaining brain.
But wait, things are worse - Maddison has suffered the same fate! What does this mean to the two young girls who haven't always got on in the past, and can they forge a friendship or will they remain brain twins forever?
Crowley has written a magical, fun and cleverly constructed story for this Aussie Bites contribution. Her characters are 'normal' girls that readers will relate to, but the injection of trickery and magic into 'everyday' lives makes the book irresistable. The author uses fun dialogue and cheeky humour, and illustrations by Judy Watson bring the entire story to life.
I'm sure we'll be seeing more Bites, Nibbles and maybe even Chomps from Crowley soon.
Title: Rosie Staples' Minor Magical Misunderstanding
Author: Cath Crowley
Publisher: Penguin, $12.95 RRP
Publication Date: 27 Aug 2010
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780143304968
For ages: Young adult
Type: Junior Fiction
