DORRIE AND THE WITCHES' CAMP

Dorrie's latest adventure takes her, Big Witch, and Cook up to the deserted witches' camp at Lake Eerie, the site of rumored sea-beast stirrings. Cook is fearful, and though Big Witch pooh-poohs the rumors, Dorrie glimpses huge footprints, approaching forms, and other frightening signs which her mother refuses to heed. Readers too will see spying, lurking figures hidden in the misty landscape--adding to the pleasures of the shivery buildup. Finally, exploring in a cave with her cat, Dorrie discovers the laboratory lair of evil Morzo, ""Magician of Machines and Master of Minds""--and finds her mother locked in a Morzo machine, made mindless by his hypno-mirror. Dorrie's subjugation of Morzo with his own machines and her capable herding of Morzo, the mind-blanked Big Witch, and a similarly incapacitated Cook home to bed are just what Dorrie's readers want to see--with an extra dollop of underlying humor at bedtime. The only letdown is the rug-yanking suddenness of Big Witch's last-minute recovery. But fight up to the end it's quintessential Dorrie.