SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD FOR YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE FOREST OF READING SILVER BIRCH AWARD
WINNER OF THE 2026 SASKATCHEWAN BOOK AWARDS CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR
CHOSEN AS THE 2026 MANITOBA YOUNG READER'S CHOICE AWARDS SUNDOG HONOUR TITLE

“Brilliant, funny, unputdownable.”– Alice Kuipers, award-winning children’s author
For fans of Remarkably Ruby and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, comedy and cringe come together in this sweet novel about facing your fears.
It’s nothing short of a catastrophe when someone secretly signs up Belinda Houle, the school’s shyest kid, to audition for a play.
Belinda turns to Sally—her unflappable best friend and resident witch—for help. Belinda doesn’t believe in magic, but if Sally says she has a spell for confidence...well, it couldn’t hurt to try it. Could it?
What follows the spell is a series of disasters so disastrous they would have been funny—if only they weren’t happening to Belinda! From eating dog food, to losing her hair in a straightening mishap, to wrecking a mural and ending up with globs of paint on her head, things get worse and worse for Belinda until she must face the facts: One piece of bad luck can be explained away, but this? This is a straight-up curse!
Can she break the curse before the dreamy Ricky Daniels takes notice of her crooked wig?
More importantly, can Belinda battle the very thing she hoped the spell would take away: her embarrassment?