OMG... I Did it Again?!

April 18, 2016
In a sequel to 2014’s OMG... Am I a Witch?!, fifth grader Apple Appleton continues to struggle with the reality that she’s a witch. As the story opens, a parade of elephants tromps down the street, inadvertently summoned by April while she was dreaming. She quickly calls on her best friends, Grace and Eve, to help get rid of the animals while simultaneously trying to stay out of trouble with her parents. April’s subconscious desire to keep the elephants safe from ivory hunters gives the story a hint of an environmental undercurrent, but Aikens-Nuñez is mostly happy to keep the mood light, with abundant references to all the elephant dung piling up outside, some of which is required to reverse the magical spell. It’s a breezy story of magic run amok. Ages 9–12.

March 1, 2016
Now that she has become a witch, April encounters an unexpected challenge: without ever meaning to do it, she conjures up elephants in her dreams. The elephants--real ones--roam through April's neighborhood, sit on cars, eat the trees, and spray swimming-pool water everywhere. It's chaos, and she's not allowed to leave the house. Together with her friends Grace and Eve, she consults New Orleanian Eve's Book of Magie, written in French, to find a solution. They realize that April has dreamed about getting the endangered animals to a safe place and that the dream worked! Now they must somehow sneak out of the house to gather items that April can use in a spell to put the elephants back where they belong, but April's mom and dad are in the way. Can April get the items she needs, possibly including elephant poop, and work the spell properly? Can she understand the French in her book? And most importantly, will the elephants be all right? Aikens-Nunez keeps her story light and breezy, milking elephant poop and the elephants' antics for humor. She never implies any danger for anyone, except that April might get in trouble with her parents if they catch her sneaking out! April is white, Grace is Latina, and Eve is African-American. A sweet romp for young readers who like humor and magic. (Fantasy. 7-10)

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