Over the holidays I suddenly found myself alone in someone else's living room. Everyone else had departed for other rooms, and I could hear them all bickering and guffawing and just generally being boisterous and TOO MUCH. I scanned the end table at my elbow and noticed, under a stack of magazines, this slim little volume.

 

Would it be too sickening if I said I was "charmed" by this book? Well, I was. It is part of a series of books by Ileana Abrev, a respected practitioner who hails from Cuba and currently lives in Australia. Her "White Magic" series has spawned several different books, each of which focuses on making magic spells simple, accessible, and fun.