Competition's a Witch »

Kelly McClymer was born in South Carolina, but crossed the Mason-Dixon line to live in Delaware at age six. After one short stint living in South Carolina during junior high, she has remained above the line, and now lives in Maine with her husband and three children.

Writing has been Kelly's passion since her sixth grade essay on how to not bake bread earned her an A plus. After cleaning up the bread dough that oozed on to the floor, she gave up bread making for good and turned to writing as a creative outlet. A graduate of the University of Delaware (English major, of course) she spends her days writing and teaching writing. Look for her next book, The Salem Witch Tryouts, from Simon Pulse in Fall 2006.

Prudence Stewart is finally starting to get her witch on. It's been a month since her parents decided to give their magic-deficient daughter a crash course in enchantment by enrolling her in Agatha's Day School for Witches. And sure, Pru's still stuck in Magic for Dummies — but at least she made the cheerleading squad.

Now Prudence has a bigger problem...she walks, talks, and cheers like a mortal. And she's deathly afraid the other witches will catch on. So she vows to give up her old earthly ways: no cell phone, no car, and above all, no dating mortal boys.

There's just one hitch to the sitch: Angelo, the megacute mortal-next-door. When he and Prudence meet, sparks fly — no magic necessary. And breaking Angelo's spell turns out to be the hardest trick of all.

KLIATT

Prudence is on precarious ground as she tries to maneuver her way around the St. Agatha's Day School as a new, improved witch. Her main goal is getting out of remedial classes and taking her squad to the cheerleading championship. The only problem is she really needs to study hard and it's technically not her squad. The girls on the squad give her a hard time and the teachers don't relent either. Will Prudence be able to manage it all and be a typical teenager, too, with female friends and male relationships? This is a fun, well-written story that should delight fans of the first volume, though it can be read alone.