Failing to learn the 'Brewmerang Principle' in magic school, Greta eventually discovers that her malicious spells can be turned against her. Her former classmate, Alice, rescues marshmallow-covered children from Greta's hurtful magic. Somewhat garish, purple-hued watercolors depict the witches' escapades in the slow-moving, didactic tale.

The effects of artistic license become clear in this picture book from Simmons, who shows what happens to two witches who attend the same school, and are taught the same lessons, but find widely different uses for their craft. Alice's bucolic perch on a mountain has a sign that says Welcome!'' while Greta's sign warns,Keep Away!'' Butterflies and bluebirds attend one child-witch, buzzards and bats the other. When school's out, the stage is set: Alice conjures a wave for a family whose boat is stranded on a sandbar, while Greta conjures a similar wave to wash away a child's sandcastle. More examples of their opposing worldviews follow, but most readers will get the point, and it may be the simple predictability of the plot they will enjoy most. By the time Greta gets her comeuppance—she was not in school the day the most important of witchy lessons was taught, a take on the old what-goes-around- comes-around chestnut—readers will be anticipating the punishment, but not Alice's reward. As a result of all her good deeds, her view from the hill is getting ``better and better,'' with levitating children bearing thank-you notes, cookies, and flowers. Moore has a style like Lynn Munsinger's, with charmingly detailed watercolors that endlessly tinker with the symmetry of the tale—e.g., the bats have come to Alice's side in the last scene. (Picture book. 4-8)"

This prim volume preaches the """"Brewmerang Principle,"""" which states that """"Whatever you chant,/ Whatever you brew,/ Sooner or later/ Comes back to you."""" Alice is a winsome and well-behaved witch; Greta is of the wartier wicked variety. Both girls learn the same sorcery at Miss Mildred Mildew's School of Magic, but """"whereas Alice's spells were simply enchanting... Greta's were deviously diabolical."""" For instance, Alice conjures an ocean wave to lift a stranded boat from a sandbar, while Greta uses the same spell to wreck a sand castle. Readers are meant to detest the rebellious Greta and adore the cloyingly cute Alice; in the story's resolution, Alice uses the Brewmerang Principle to reverse one of Greta's pranks (""""The children crowded around Alice and cheered!""""). Yet the lesson in good karma backfires. Simmons never suggests why Greta became so mean, nor shows another witch doing a kind deed for her. Likewise, Moore's watercolors, with plenty of pink for Alice and """"poison green"""" for Greta, only accept sugar-and-spice notions of a proper little girl. By pitting pert against punk, the collaborators inadvertently evoke sympathy for the antihero. All ages. (Aug.)