Brewing Up

Witch-in-Training #4

by Maeve Friel, Nathan Reed (Illustrator)

Jessica and Miss Strega go off to source the Brewing ingredients, to the Market at the Very End of the Earth. The fourth title in this magical series. Jessica and Miss Strega are off on an expedition to restock Miss Strega’s shop with Brewing Ingredients.They moon-vault up to the Milky Way, meeting a rather fat dragon on the way. When Jess Spells the dragon out of trouble, he tells her where she can get that elusive ingredientt Mandrake and also the name of a dentist who will supply Dragons’ Teeth and Dragon Blood. They visit the Market at the Very End of the Earth, where they choose from the Pool of Lost Socks and buy some Rompadenti biscuits. They camp out in an orange orchard and Jess learns about the Modern Witch’s Brewing Pyramid. Jess brews up a Shock Brew which makes Miss Strega and the familiars itch all night. But Miss Strega gets her own back on Jessica for the itchy brew, by giving her a Rompadenti biscuit with her name on… luckily Jess uses the Dragon’s Blood to make the writing disappear, otherwise who knows what might have happened. The fourth title in this magical series, fizzing with fun and excitement.

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2003

About the author

I was born in Derry (Northern Ireland) where I went to Thornhill College and then studied sociology in University College Dublin. I have lived all over the place since then and have worked as a teacher, a translator, a secretary and a tour guide before taking up full time writing.

I wrote several short stories for adults which were broadcast by BBC Radio 4. Then I wrote Irrational Developments, a story inspired by the protests about water shortages in a small Spanish village. It was published in the Sunday Tribune and went on to win the 1990 Hennessy Literary Award. That encouraged me to keep writing.

Since then I have written 19 books for children of all ages as well as lots of short stories which appear in many anthologies. I live in Dublin and also have a hideaway in that same small Spanish village where I am surrounded by orange orchards.