Suitcase S[witch]

by Aisha Bushby, Coralie Muce (Illustrator)

When Zahra accidentally swaps suitcases with a witch, it’s the beginning of a whole series of magical mishaps. Her feet take on a dancing life of their own when she puts on a pair of enchanted boots, while her first flying adventure in a charmed cloak nearly ends in disaster! But it’s not all bad. She learns a spell that can transform her dad’s worst cooking into a gourmet delight and makes a new best friend in the form of a talking cat. When she finds the witch again, will Zahra even want to get her own suitcase back?!

A charming magical adventure from acclaimed children’s author Aisha Bushby.

88 pages, Paperback

Published May 18, 2023

About the author

Aisha Bushby was selected as one of only four previously unpublished authors in the Stripes anthology for BAME writers, A Change is Gonna Come, alongside writers such as Patrice Lawrence, Tanya Byrne and Nikesh Shukla. The anthology was awarded a YA Book Prize Special Achievement Award. Since then she has been taking part in panels, interviews and events across the UK, from Bristol Waterstones to Manchester Academy, Birmingham Literature Festival to Southbank YALW, BBC Radio 3 to Buzzfeed. A Pocketful of Stars is her debut novel.

Reviews

[Fenella Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

7yo and I just finished reading it together, taking turns to read a page. It's a lovely book for an early reader, with the kind of fantasy experiences kids would love to experience themselves - like talking to cats, flying in the air, and turning badly-made porridge into cookie dough with chocolate chips. There's a few poems of different types in the book - including a sonnet and a haiku - so there's some learning of other types of writing.
There's also some childish humour like Zahra believing her mum is a vampire and her dad a zombie.
Daughter now wants Bushby to write more of these books, one where Zahra gets to become a witch herself - but I think the author (at the Edinburgh Book Festival) said there wasn't going to be a sequel.

Daughter chose to give it 5 stars and will read again.

[Tracy Lander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful Barrington Stoke book aimed at dyslexic readers but also suited to less resilient readers for whom a middle grade novel is often too much. I have a perfectly capable y6 girl at school who loves Barrington Stoke books because they are short and she doesn't get bogged down. I am a really big fan of BStoke!
Zahra has won a competition to read out some poems at a festival, if she wins that she'll win £500 voucher for books for her school. On the train she sees a young girl, a witch? This girl has the same suitcase as her, and there the problem begins...
Zahra arrives at her hotel and opens her suitcase....but it's not her's....her clothes and her book with her poems in are with the girl witch!
Dad gives Zahra a t-shirt to wear to bed but she spills water on it, she puts on the pyjamas that are in the suitcase and things get really strange!
How can she find her own case?
A good story is the basis of all Barrington Stoke books and this is no exception. Aisha Bushby writes exciting children's novels, this one is just a bit shorter. It's short chapters make it ideal for reading at bedtime too.
Loved it.
TA, ESCP.

[Eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute fun witchy read 🧹

[Hâf · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quirky little book with a magical twist that inspires a sonnet just in time for a competition.

[Corrina Attwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it because my son loved it and I can see why. Such a fun little switch.

[Kitchen Sink Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suitcase Switch finds Zahra accidentally swapping suitcases with a witch…magical mishaps are about to occur…