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Heidi Heckelbeck #4

Heidi Heckelbeck in Disguise

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When Melanie Maplethorpe dresses up as a witch for Halloween, Heidi decides to go as Melanie, but her act goes a little too far and upsets her friends. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. is an imprint of Spotlight a division of ABDO.

119 pages, Library Binding

First published August 7, 2012

92 people are currently reading
241 people want to read

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Wanda Coven

134 books100 followers

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5 stars
313 (54%)
4 stars
169 (29%)
3 stars
71 (12%)
2 stars
15 (2%)
1 star
10 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
Profile Image for Andrew.
2,337 reviews71 followers
October 17, 2021
Heidi Hecklebeck has a problem. She loves Halloween, but she hates those who dress up as witches. Why? She herself is one and the perception of what a witch looks like is all wrong.
So when she must decide what to be for school and trick-or-treating, she dresses up as the most wicked witch, her classmate.

A lesson is taught and learned. Friendships are tested.
Cute illustrations and a fun Halloween read!
Profile Image for Charlotte L..
29 reviews
January 8, 2026
Heidi didn't know what to wear of trick or treat when she was going to find her costume Melanie showed up! but Heidi could not find her costume so they went home! Heidi was trying to find someone to trick or treat with but no one was answering! Her friends were not being to nice because Heidi was not being nice! Her friends notice she used magic for her hair!
Profile Image for J.
65 reviews7 followers
May 6, 2025
The message in this one is problematic as Melanie is allowed to be a bully but Heidi isn’t allowed to treat her as she deserves to be treated. Kids shouldn’t be taught to placate bullies and should be encouraged to defend themselves.
Profile Image for Lisa.
1,170 reviews141 followers
April 21, 2020
Heidi Heckelbeck in Disguise by Wanda Coven

Trick or treat, its Halloween!
Heidi gets upset when Melanie decides to be an ugly old witch. Since Heidi IS a real witch, she knows that not all witches are ugly or mean.

So Heidi decides to skip Halloween, until she realizes she won't get any candy. So she changes her mind and decides to dress up as Melanie.

As usual things go wrong lol and Heidi takes her Melanie act a bit too far.

Read the book to find out what happens next.

I would rate this book a 4 because it has a nice lesson in it.








back cover--It’s Halloween in Brewster, and everyone is excited—except for Heidi Heckelbeck. Heidi hates seeing people dress up as witches, as if they know what life as a witch is truly like. When Melanie Maplethorpe decides to be a witch for Halloween, Heidi decides to dress up as Melanie to get back at her. But Heidi takes her Melanie act a little too far, saying and doing things that upset her friends. Will they ever forgive her?
The Heidi Heckelbeck series is perfect for readers who want a “grown-up” format but are not quite ready for lengthy chapter books. With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Heidi Heckelbeck chapter books are perfect for beginning readers
Profile Image for Katt Hansen.
3,851 reviews108 followers
April 7, 2023
Heidi has an opportunity to be anyone she wants to be for Halloween, a holiday she truly doesn't enjoy because of how it makes her feel when people dress up as evil witches. The perfect opportunity for revenge? To dress up as Melanie, a girl she really doesn't get along with. But what starts out as funny, gets old fast, to the point where her friends get a little tired of her 'act.' Being someone else doesn't quite turn out to be as good of an idea as she originally had thought.

Still loving this series. The ideas are really original and the spells keep the plots fun and interesting. Lots of lessons to be learned, but in a gentle and kind way. I can't wait to see what Heidi does next!
178 reviews1 follower
January 19, 2019
I liked this book because it was about Halloween and there was a really good lesson. Heidi dressed up as Melanie and started acting like her. Her friends didn't like her because she was acting too mean, and that didn't feel good. It taught her that being mean doesn't feel good and that people won't like you if you are mean. Heidi apologizes to her friends and then they make up and go trick or treating together.
516 reviews
March 10, 2018
2.5 stars

Another Heidi story that I read aloud because my students have thoroughly enjoyed this series. I, myself, am just glad that they're reading at all. Having so many installments in this series certainly helps to keep their interest and momentum in reading. I appreciate that.
Profile Image for Elisha Blade.
113 reviews
November 5, 2019
In this book of the series we find that it’s not okay to make fun of others. We also see how easy it is to fall into the patterns of those we don’t like. So it also shows cases to younger readers how to overcome. Be the bigger person.
Profile Image for Sam.
405 reviews
May 8, 2023
My daughter got a kick out of this book as Heidi dresses up as Melanie. She enjoys this series and thought this book was funny. As a parent, I think a good learning lesson was in this book. So far, most of the Heidi Heckelbeck books we have read have good learning lessons for kids in them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Sunny Kim.
715 reviews24 followers
Read
March 21, 2020
it is a hilarious bok. Love the part when she dressed up like Melanie
Profile Image for Chloe (Always Booked).
3,183 reviews122 followers
December 9, 2021
I'm done with this series. This is all about Heidi and how she dresses up like Melanie for Halloween just to make fun of her. I lost a lot of respect for Heidi and thought this was just unpleasant.
4 reviews
July 23, 2022
It was good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jen Lynn.
951 reviews
August 21, 2022
Read this with my 7 year old daughter. Giving it two stars just because she liked it. It was cute, attempts to teach that bullying is bad. I felt it fell short, but my daughter adored it.
50 reviews1 follower
January 10, 2023
Heidi didn’t like witch. But she loves Halloween especially when she gets many candies and snacks.
Profile Image for Ann.
26 reviews
December 31, 2013
Heidi is upset that Mean Melanie, the class bully, plans to dress as an ugly stereotypical witch for Halloween. Even worse, she cannot tell her friends that it hurst even worse because Heidi IS a witch-- a good and lovely one whose mother will not let her use magic just because. So Heidi uses just a little magic without permission to dress up as Melanie for Halloween. Heidi loves that she gets Melanie's goat, but will she lose her friends when her "act" is so true to type?
Easy reader, very popular with 2nd and 3rd graders--its fun and pink and magic. also longer at 100+ pages, even with large type and the occasional drawing. Recommended by several young readers who love a series--and want them in order.
Profile Image for Marya.
1,463 reviews
January 8, 2014
There are many stories about trying to live in another's shoes that involve a twist of magic. Those stories usually involve body switching. Here, the only magic Heidi employs is the magic of hair dye as she steps into arch-enemy Melanie's typical outfit. It seems that the clothes make the mean girl, as Heidi's attempts to "pretend" to be Melanie get a little too close for comfort. We still don't know why Melanie is a mean-girl (at least the series never claims to answer that), but we do have an inkling of why it might work for her. Bravo!
Profile Image for Kaytee.
426 reviews7 followers
May 3, 2015
it was halloween and heidi dident want to go.then when she went to school melanie pickd on heidi. bruce always named melanie a wicked wich. then melanie said to heidi what are you looking at weirdo. lucy stood in front of heidi and stands up for her. then melanie says she wants to be a witch. Heidi doesn't like thay so she dresses up like melanie and acts like her.her friends don't like her so they are not her friends anymore. heidi says sorry and that forgive her
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews

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