Witches Don't Do Backflips

The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids #10

by Debbie Dadey, Marcia Thornton Jones, John Steven Gurney (Illustrator)

Discovering that their new gymnastics teacher likes cats, brooms, strange drinks from the health bar, and funny rhymes, the kids at Bailey School become convinced that Miss Brewbaker is really a witch. Original.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Chapter Books, Juvenile, Mystery

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Debbie Dadey is the author and co-author of 162 books for children, including the Mermaid Tales series from Simon and Schuster and the beloved Adventures of The Bailey School Kids from Scholastic. Ms. Dadey is a former teacher and librarian. Please like her at Facebook.com/debbiedadey.

Reviews

[Nella ☾ of Bookland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meanest thing Eddie said in this book:

“Somebody should have taught her to floss,” Eddie snickered softly. “Then she wouldn’t have lost that tooth.”

Melody elbowed Eddie in the side and whispered, “She’s not missing a tooth. That’s just a big space in front. Lots of people have them.”

“Like the space you have between your ears?” Eddie muttered.”

[Emmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm slowly reading my way through this series! This was a fun installment, and although I didn't think the story itself had much meat to it, I really enjoyed how the authors handled the various "witchy" aspects of Miss Brewbaker.

[Hope Anderson (HopelessBookAddict) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun!

[Megan Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books seem to stop abruptly

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was crazy and all over the place. It was one thing after another that wasn’t explained or solved. I see a recurrent theme where the supposed supernatural identity of the adult is left unanswered and leaves readers not knowing if they really were supernatural or not. It’s weird to have all signs pointing to yes but then not get it proved or disproved.

Miss Brewbaker owned the gym and is a gymnastics teacher. To start off with she has a big nose and a mole that Eddie thought was a wart. At least the girls defended her appearance, saying she can’t help it. That’s a nice lesson.

Her broomstick had been out on the porch but then appeared inside the house. Miss Brewbaker did crazy high flips that looked like she was flying. And her rhymes seemed to come true. But her first rhyme just mentioned that Carey would like gymnastics, when Carey had declined participating because she didn’t want to mess up her perm. And then she perfectly executed flips. That didn’t count to me because she said Carey would like it, not that she’d be good at it.
And Liza couldn’t cartwheel at all until Miss Brewbaker did a rhyme about her keeping up practicing and she’d fly. That’s when Eddie started suspecting she was a witch.

Liza left her house key and went back for it. The broom ended up in a different place than they’d seen again and they all heard a cackle. His aunt’s dog Prince Diamond barreled in and Miss Brewbaker does not like dogs and didn’t want him ruining her gingerbread house. The kids thought she was trying to lure them in with it like Hansel and Gretel.

She invited Liza to have some of this concoction, a witchy-looking brew. And she said a rhyme about Prince Diamond hopping away and he ran away and they couldn’t find him. In his usual spot outside there was a toad with black spots, and since he’s a Dalmatian, they thought it was him.

The kids went to the library to check out this book on witches and other creatures and Howie discovered that if you finish a witch’s rhyme it breaks the spell she was going to cast. And if you say her spells backward it breaks them. So at the parent’s preview of their gymnastics, the kids were finishing the last word of her rhyme and stopping her from doing it. She was mad but then all of a sudden when Liza made a rhyme about being friends, Miss Brewbaker laughed and said a rhyme about liking Liza and considering her a friend.
Prince Diamond came back up normal. We don’t even know if he was ever a frog. And there’s no explanation for any of the things that happened like the broom.

Characters were also yelling things that didn’t make sense to yell. They could have just said them loudly or something else that would have felt better. Like at the class in front of the parents, the kids tell and holler out the last word of her rhyme. They’re all standing together. Are they really screaming in each other’s faces??

I really liked the werewolf one and this is nowhere near as good. Didn’t enjoy this one.

[paige turner ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked how this one had a touch of something scary in it. I also liked how this time Eddie kind of believed that Mrs. Brewbaker was a witch.

I wish we would have seen how the festival turned out, how did everyone do? Were they just good because she put a spell on them? Was the spell broken like the other ones?

Again, I really enjoyed it, but it's just missing something.

But I guess there's only so much you can fit into twelve chapters.

[Sarah Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book its a lovely story of 5 friends and an athlete who teaches aerobics to the children and the children thought that their teacher is a witch and first they just thought but when they got some clues and then they got sure about her and willed to find more about her ...
This book is full of creeps and thrills, actions, suspense, curiosity and adventurous...😊
DO READ IT!!!🤗
Happy Reviews!!!
💖

[Hannah Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a fan of this series, and this book is a great example of why I like this series. It's an easy read, with the constant question of "is she really a witch?" The circumstantial evidence is hilarious, from moving brooms to a yellow brick road. As always, one of the highlights is Liza, Melody, Eddie and Howie bickering amongst themselves.

This was one of my favorites as a kid, and it holds up. I'm reading the series to my own kids, and they are loving it as much as I did.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ava and Kevin continue to enjoy this series. Kevin liked when the gymnastics coach said little rhymes and the kids could do the gymnastics tricks. Ava liked when Eddie went to the fall festival and was really sleepy and Howie said he looked like sleeping beauty and would until a princess kissed him.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice read. Gives you the Halloween feels. I think it did end abruptly though. They didn't technically prove she wasn't a witch

[Dua Bilal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can any one tell me how to read the books in our shelf
I don't know till now I am a new user

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like with a few of the reviews, I did think that this ended abruptly and left a lot of plot points unanswered.

However, it's cute and brought me back to reading these in elementary school.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books in the series. All of them are good but this was my favorite

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another one I didn't like all that much, but I don't know exactly why.

[Niyi Daramola · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to read that book

[Savani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick read, keeps it open for the younger audience to debate if the person is actually what they’re thought to be.

[Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

A read aloud with my son. Not my favorite—kind of boring.

[Josh Epp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one hits!!!! So good, enjoyed revisiting this one!

[Kay]

*Reread

[Bindi Burkes · Rating 5 out of 5]

“My feedback is… hmm. How about, two thumbs up?” - Bindi

(Really loved the Wizard of Oz references)

[Marina (marinainw0nderland) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun “Bailey school kids”book. I love the fact that one of the kids always thinks that the teacher is some kind of supernatural being. This was a fun quick read. And I’m enjoy flashback of my childhood, as I read this at my grandparents house.

[J.B. Mathias · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer the books in the series that lean towards the idea that the subject is supernatural and that leaves an element of danger...which this one had...but I found the resolution to be too goofy.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Witches Don't Do Backflips” includes four main characters two boys Eddie and Howie, two girls named Liza and Melody. The four friend are signed up for gymnastics, even though the girls were excited about it the boys were not so thrilled. Once the friends first see their gymnastics teacher, Miss Brewbaker, they suspect her of being a witch. This story doesn’t make it clear whether or not Miss Brewbaker is a witch but it does give the children and readers to suspect that she is. She looks like a witch with her long nose and wears black. She has a black pet cat named Merlin and say rhymes that sound like and may very well be a magical chant. Strange things happen when Miss Brewbaker recites her chants they come true or at least they seem to. Whether real magic or just a coincidence is up to the reader to decide but in the end it would be funny to think that witches do backflips.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the tenth book in the The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids series. We've only read a few of them so far, but our oldest really likes them. We won't likely read these books in order, but it doesn't seem to matter much. It's a fun story and we like the fact that all of the strange characters may or may not be the "monsters" they are portrayed to be. We are looking forward to reading more books in this series.

[Haneen Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the Bailey School Kids, particularly this book! These books were the reason why I began reading in the first place. Will never forget them :'). I had always hoped they'd make these book series into a tv series...haha they never did (secretly still wishing that one day it'll be tv series! Shhhhh!)

Also, I used to use this book as a guide-book to being a witch. On Halloween, I would attempt to memorize the 'spells' in the book (it made me feel like a real witch). LOL. I was a weird kid. Okay? Okay. Haha.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. For me it was a really quick read, but it was entertaining and I was curious where it was going. I'm not sure if all of these end the same way, but you really never learn whether the teacher is a witch or not even when all the signs point to it. It's fun and imaginative. I also think it's a good early chapter book for kids to get into reading once they move away from longer picture books. It's not particularly difficult to read and the text is larger, so probably good for 8-14 year olds would enjoy this book.

*I read this for a children's lit course*

[Derek L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last time I read a Bailey School Kids book was way over twenty years ago. The books still have that whimsy and charm I enjoyed when I first read these books. There were moments in the book that made me laugh and put that nostalgic smile on my face. While I had a wonderful time in this book, I couldn't help but notice a spelling error that shouldn't have missed. Unfortunately, it did take me out of the story and had me disappointed that such an error went by unnoticed.

I can't wait to keep reading more of these little books!

[BookeryBliss · Rating 5 out of 5]

The collection of "The adventures of the Bailey School Kids" stories are among my all-time favorite children's books. Witty, mischievous and fun, these short and silly books continue to bring giggles to the young and old. Just as I have enjoyed them as a kid, my own children also love them today. I even catch myself re-reading them (alone) from time to time. What can I say? I guess I'll always be a BSK kid at heart.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Bailey School Kids is a best-selling children's book series by Marcia Thornton Jones and Debbie Dadey. Its main characters are a group of four children (Eddie, Howie, Liza, Melody) who suspect some persons in the stories are popular folk lore or fairy tale characters. They are appealing because they mix a familiar story in with this group of kids. Mid-grammar school

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The children at Bailey School notice that their new gymnastics teacher, Miss Brewbaker, has peculiar interests such as cats, brooms, unusual health drinks, and quirky rhymes. These unusual preferences lead the kids to develop a belief that Miss Brewbaker may actually be a witch.

This series of book was just funny and entertaining as a kid!