When the witch's three children go for a walk one day, the local buses know that "that means TROUBLE," and attempt to hide behind the lorries. But the madcap trio is not to be escaped, as they turn young Gemma into a goose, the conductor of the Number 16 Bus into a rich sultan, and the bus itself into a magic flying carpet. Whizzing along, the enchanted conveyance causes more trouble at the Queen's palace, knocking the soldiers' busbies off their heads and earning the outraged monarch's ire. Attempting to put things right, the youngest witch child transforms the soldiers into jam tarts instead! But just when all seems hopelessly tangled, the three children summon their mother, who puts all to rights...

Like its predecessor, which chronicles these witchy youngsters' madcap adventures in a park, The Witch's Children and the Queen features the same kind of well-intentioned spells gone wrong, usually through inability to reverse them. The narrative is entertaining and humorous, with some particularly clever bits - as when the ensorcelled soldiers declare that they are "in a jam!" - and a clever solution that emphasizes the seemingly all-seeing nature of maternal authority. Knowing that they must do something prohibited, in order to draw the witch's attention, and get her to come flying to the rescue, each youngster does what it knows it should not. The artwork by Russell Ayto, with its use of color, and its stylized figures (whether elongated or dumpy), matches the zany atmosphere of the adventure perfectly. I found myself enjoying this second outing with the mischievous witchy trio even more than the first, and hope to track down the third, and thus far final volume, The Witch's Children Go to School, as soon as possible! ( )