The Demon Notebook #1 by Erika McGann

My name is Grace, and my friends and I just wanted to see if we could cast a few spells. We wrote them in a notebook, but none of them worked. Until... we tried using Rachel's new Ouija board. Una started acting very strangely, and the spells we had written down started to work in reverse order. James fell in love with me, a boy peed his pants, and a blizzard snowed-in our town. However, then we remembered our first spell... for the school bully Tracy to get hit by a bus. We don’t know what we’re doing, and we’re taking turns watching over Una. At first, we thought she simply couldn’t handle the stress, but now the problem may be worse than we thought. Her glowing red eyes are a big clue that something has gone terribly wrong!

This book told a story of young girls messing with powers they didn’t know existed. The first spell was written out of anger, but the other eight were just silly. The spells occurring in reverse order created a countdown to the most serious one and added some suspense. The girls were mad at Tracy, but they didn’t want her dead. Then, Una’s situation transformed her from a victim into an antagonist and really complicated the problem. Even though Grace was the main character, her friends took turns having more important roles in the plot. Adie was more timid, Jenny was more athletic, and Rachel was quicker to take action. Ironically, Adie stepped out of character during the climax to help save Tracy. The girls received support from a couple adults with an interesting back-story of their own. Mrs. Quinlan offered spells to dispose of the demons, but she made it clear that she would not take direct action in the conflict. I was a bit surprised when it took Mrs. Lemon so long to get involved, since she taught in school. Overall, this is a fun book and includes a sequel, The Broken Spell.