By Michael Ende
Illustrated by Regina Kehn 
Translated by Heike Schwarzbauer and Rick Takvorian

“A potent dose of comic fantasy, bubbling over with clever wordplay and slapstick incidents, and spiked with verse.” —Publishers Weekly

“Envy the parents who get to read it aloud at bedtime, facing the challenge of voicing larger-than-life characters…Ende revels in zany details and little asides. The tone of amused horror is well sustained in this playful translation…Amid the gags comes meaning, particularly when a cat arrives at a new understanding of his life, and when we witness the destruction of nature. It all ends in an operatic aria. And why not? Michael Ende also likes to keep his readers thinking.” —Eileen Battersby, TLS

From the author of The Neverending Story, a book that reminds us that “magic—be it good or bad—is no simple matter.”

It’s New Year’s Eve at the Villa Nightmare but Beelzebub Preposteror is in no mood for celebration. As the Shadow Sorcery Minister, Preposteror has a duty to perform a certain number of evil deeds in service to the Minister of Pitch Darkness. But this year, to his horror, he’s nowhere near meeting that quota. Preposteror has all but given up when who should make an unexpected visit but his aunt, the witch Tyrannia Vampirella. She has come with a diabolical proposal that just might be the solution to Preposterer’s dilemma: together they will brew the fabled Notion Potion, “one of the most ancient and powerful evil spells in the universe,” and their every evil wish will be granted.

The only thing that stands in their way is a most unlikely team—a cat named Mauricio di Mauro and a raven known as Jacob Scribble, who have just hours to thwart the plans of their sorcerer masters and save the world from destruction.

Hardcover
224 pages 
Ages 8-12 
NYR Children's Collection, 2017
Originally Published in 1989
5.5 x 8.5 inches 
ISBN 9781681371887
Children's Chapter Book, Fantasy, Magic