Common Sense Media Review
By Amanda Bindel
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Relatable witch draws kids in to simple, interactive book.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 5+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Meet Heckerty
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's It About?
Heckerty is an old witch who enlists the help of her black cat, Zanzibar, to create a potion and cast a spell to make herself beautiful for her passport picture. Instead of looking for her lost spell book, she tries to remember the spell on her own, mixes it up, and ends up with a green face rather than a clean face. She realizes that "it's the same me, even if I don't want to look at myself in a mirror ever again" and asks the reader to be her friend. Kids can choose to read the story themselves or hear the lovely British-accented professional narration.
Is It Any Good?
Heckerty is a witch but not a scary witch -- she's just sometimes who makes a careless mistake, like anyone does. Her message of self-acceptance and her invitation to kids to be her friend is a great starting point for talking with kids about loving themselves as they are and being a friend to others. The interactive images are fun to explore with a bit of witchy-ick factor. On one page, Heckerty's eyebrows are little hairy worms that wriggle across her face. Kids can tap any word to hear it pronounced in both the read-it-myself and read-to-me versions.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Heckerty's decision not to look for her spell book and say the spell from memory and compare it to times they may take shortcuts.
Talk about Heckerty's face and whether being green changed who she is. Ask kids if they would be Heckerty's friend. Why, or why not?
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android , Kindle Fire
- Subjects : Language & Reading : reading , vocabulary
- Skills : Emotional Development : empathy , moving beyond obstacles , self-awareness
- Pricing structure : Free (Coloring pages and the language assistant are available for $1 each.)
- Release date : March 27, 2013
- Genre : Education
- Topics : Book Characters
- Publisher : Broomstick Productions inc
- Version : 1.1.6
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 4.3 or later; Android 2.2 or higher
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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