The Courage of Cat Campbell (25 page)

~ I
NGREDIENTS
~

2 cups unicorn milk (or regular whole milk)

¹
/
₂
cup real chocolate chips

Fun stuff (Feel free to impress your friends by adding a drop of peppermint or vanilla extract, and if you really want to make them swoon, top with a cloud of whipped cream.)

~ M
ETHOD
~

1. Warm the milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Mix in chocolate chips and stir or whisk until melted. Turn off the heat and wave your wand over the pan. In your warmest, friendliest voice, chant the following spell:

A hug, hello, and friendly wink

Stir all these things into this drink.

Add smiles and laughs, a listening ear

To help your quarrel disappear.

So share a cup with friend or foe

And watch your friendship mend and grow.

2. Pour hot chocolate into mugs. Add the fun stuff if you want to, and make sure you clink cups with your friend before drinking, and say the witches' toast to good health, “Daggles up!”

M
Y NAME MAY BE ON
the cover of this book, but I could not have written it without the help and support of a great many people, starting with my wonderful agent, Ann Tobias. Once again she worked with me through endless rounds of revisions, and
Cat
would not be the book it is today without her excellent guidance and help—thank you, thank you!

A huge thank-you to my dream editor, Paula Wiseman, for helping me breathe magic into Cat, and to everyone at Simon & Schuster who worked so hard on this book, especially Chloë Foglia, for her fabulous cover design.

Thank you to the amazingly talented Sebastien Mesnard, for bringing Cat to life. He captured her perfectly in his gorgeous illustration, and I feel so lucky to have his artwork on my cover!

Where would I be without the sharp eagle eyes of Jane Gilbert Keith, who picks up things no one else ever notices and brainstorms ideas with me over countless cups of tea. I can't forget to mention Annalie Gilbert Keith and Juliette Lowe, who gave me excellent feedback from a kid's point of view.

Thank you to everyone who insisted I write a sequel to
Poppy
, and to my son Ben for giving me the brilliant idea! Thank you to my family and friends, for the constant encouragement and daily laughter. And to Rachel Roberts, for making sure all my spells worked correctly. I also want to say a special thank-you to the entire Lowe clan. I couldn't ask for a more wonderful bunch of in-laws!

I am so lucky to have such supportive parents, who read countless drafts of
Cat
and listened to me ramble away for hours on the telephone while I worked through plot ideas.

And lastly, thank you to my husband, Jon, for doing all the yucky chores and ferrying the kids about so that I could have time to write! And to Sebastian, Oliver, Ben, and Juliette—you inspire me to be more courageous every day.

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2015 by Natasha Lowe

Jacket design by Chloë Foglia

Jacket illustration copyright © 2015 by Seb Mesnard

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

S
IMON
& S
CHUSTER
B
OOKS FOR
Y
OUNG
R
EADERS

is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event.

For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at
www.simonspeakers.com
.

Design by Chloë Foglia

The text for this book is set in Cochin.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lowe, Natasha.

The courage of Cat Campbell / Natasha Lowe. — First edition.

pages cm

Companion book to: The power of Poppy Pendle.

Summary: Although her mother, Poppy Pendle, believes magic ruins lives,

eleven-year-old Cat Campbell is a late-blooming witch whose magical

abilities are bursting to be mastered.

ISBN 978-1-4814-1870-6 (hardback) — ISBN 978-1-4814-1872-0 (eBook)

[1. Magic—Fiction. 2. Witches—Fiction. 3. Self-realization—Fiction.

4. Mothers and daughters—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.L9627Co 2015

[Fic]—dc23

2014031618