Lucy Lancaster

Cove, Willow and Burris, Priscilla (illustrator).

Lucy Lancaster in the Spotlight (Lucy Lancaster #4)
August 5, 2025 by Little Simon

Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
 

Lucy loves playing the guitar and taking lessons from Mr. Martin at the community center with Karina and Gabe. She's excited when the annual recital is announced, and can't wait to get up on the stage and have all of her friends watch her perform. She invites her best friends, Heidi Hecklebeck and Bruce Bickerson, but when Bryce shows the group the music she is playing on the piano, Lucy scoffs and says that she could play the (much harder!) music in her sleep. Lucy panics a little because she isn't that good a guitarist, and is all set to practice a lot, but remembers that her magical hiccups could make her sound great. She doesn't practice at all in the week leading up to the concert, and even goes out to the park to play soccer the day of rehearsal. Things go poorly, and she makes a big mistake, and not even her spells help. She tries to get out of going to the concert, going as far as claiming that she has hurt her arm, but her parents know she is faking it, and try to reassure her that she will be fine. They even put together an audience of her stuffed animals so that she can practice playing in front of a crowd. She's still nervous before the concert when her friends Heidi and Bruce show up, but they assure her they are there to hear her do her best. Lucy's trio with Karina and Gabe goes well, but Bryce's piano piece has some problems. Even though Lucy didn't use her magic to help her performance, there is magical confetti at the end of the performance!

Any child who has been involved in dance or music lessons may have been faced with a first public performance and the attendant anxiety that goes along with getting up on stage, so this is a great book to show that preparation and a good attitude is the key to success. While Lucy doesn't practice as much as she should, there is a consequence for her actions when she doesn't do as well as she would like. She tries to prepare herself as much as she can in the short time left, and I like to imagine that in the future she would dedicate herself to more structured practice. Bryce is an interesting character; sometimes, she is nice, but she is often mean. I think children run into people like this more often than it is depicted in the literature! 

The book has lots of black and white illustrations, many of which take up half the page,  as well as decorations, making this a great choice for readers moving from I Can Read books to longer titles. The stars and exuberant lines that appear whenever magic is happening make it easier to know when Lucy's magical hiccups are influencing her actions. 

Aimed at readers aged 5-9, the Lucy Lancaster stories are perfect for that age when magic seems like it really MIGHT be possible. Readers who enjoyed Anna's Daisy Dreamer books, Meadows' Rainbow Magic series, Meddaugh Martha Speaks titles, or vintage Ruth Chew tales will find that Lucy casts quite the spell on them. 

Cove, Willow and Burris, Priscilla (illustrator).
Lucy Lancaster: It's Opposite Day!
December 2, 2025 by Little Simon
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

It's Opposite Day at Brewster Elementary School, and Lucy is all set. She has two shirts and a hat on backwards, even if wearing her glasses upside down didn't work. Principal Pennypacker is in a t shirt and jeans, and Ms. Welli is having the students teach some of the lessons. The students learn about palindromes, and get to play a game of Simon Says where they have to do the opposite. This is a little stressful for Lucy because it's hard, but when she gets a case of magical hiccups and says "No hiccups!", her classmates don't start hiccupping, so everyone is out. Lucy's a little worried that her classmates might find out her secret when the name tag  on her desk changes to say "Lucy the Witch" and she looks for a magic spell to hide her secret. When Lucy has to teach the class something, she struggles with a topic until she remembers that she is in charge of feeding the fish everyday. The lesson goes well, even though Lucy gets the hiccups again and the fish do some impressive leaping in their tank. Lucy even tells her classmates that she is a witch, but since it's Opposite Day, they don't believe her. 

The illustrations in this story are fun amusing than usual because of all the funny things that are being done for Opposite Day. Ms. Welli has glasses stuck into her hair at the back of her head, Heidi and Lucy climb into their cubbies and put their back packs on their desk, and Bruce has a black board full of explanations about his newest invention. Special days at elementary school can be very memorable; I remember one Wacky Day where my daughter wanted to have her hair done up like a bowl of macaroni and cheese, and another one when she went dressed like me! I loved the way Ms. Welli tied her lessons into the theme of opposites. 

Despite her magic, Lucy has the same fears that many elementary school students have. Getting up in front of a class takes some courage and preparation, but Lucy does a great job. Her friends are very supportive. Since her friend Heidi is also a witch, it's a little surprising that this fact has to be kept so hush hush. I might need to go back and read the first book in this series, Lucy Lancaster Has a Secret (2025). 

I was a huge fan of Glovach's Little Witch series when I was in elementary school, and Lucy's magical exploits will be a big hit with fans of Malcolm's Jewel Kingdom stories, Osborne's Magic Treehouse books, or Chapman's Star Friends. Now, if we could just have a book of "spells" to go along with this. I remember reading one from the public library, and found it quite a music even though I was never able to do any magic!