Madeline goes to Hogwarts in limping doggerel. A flying bus picks up all the aspiring witches to take them to Thornapple School for the year; fun ensues. With a vertical line and palette that ever so vaguely suggest Bemelmans’s beloved classics and such tried-and-true details as teachers with funny names (Miss Zorch for chemistry; Miss Glonk for phys ed) and portraits of famous witches past on the walls, his inspirations are clear. But his verse does not begin to approach passible: “Mathematics and physics can often apply / In finding out how magic broomsticks can fly. / Singing is fun, they’re determined to reach / The highest of notes, they’re the best ones to screech.” With little characterization among the student witches and no story beyond the description of school hijinks, this is one to leave behind. (Picture book. 5-8)
