Charming story of Poppy Pendle who is born with magical powers and whose parents excitedly enroll her in a witches' academy. Unfortunately for Poppy, she has no desire to be a witch; her passion, instead, lies in baking. And no wonder! Poppy was born in Marie Claire's patisserie, eating her first almond cake minutes after birth. Yet her parents are determined that Poppy follow in the footsteps of her famous great grandmother, despite Poppy's increasingly vocal pleas. When she finally decides to run away from home, Poppy escapes to Marie Claire's kitchen, turning out bakeshop goodies much to the delight of Marie Claire and her hungry customers. Yet this is an arrangement that cannot last, and Poppy is forced back home and back to her witchcraft school, where she does the unthinkable and turns her magic to the dark side.

A great story about following one's passion. The characters are well drawn, sympathetic and even the dim-witted parents finally come around. Poppy's turn to the dark side is heavily foreshadowed, doesn't take up as much of the storyline as expected, and is all happily smoothed over to everyone's satisfaction by the end. If the reader's interested in baking, there are recipes at the back of the book for some of the goodies mentioned in the story. The caramel cookies are delicious and the recipe was very easy to follow, even for this haphazard cook! So, tell readers to stop and bake the caramel cookies when they're first mentioned in the book. This way, readers can then savor the sweets they're reading about as the story concludes. What could be better than that?! ( )