The Witch of Clatteringshaws / Joan Aiken / 131 pages / Scotland

"Many saints, it appeared, had said very important things as they lay dying, delivered prophecies or given good advice.  Three of them had left instructions that their last words were to be written down, then kept secret for a number of years - St. Arfish for three years, St. Ardust for 9, St. Arling for 21."  Unfortunately, when Malise agreed to take her brother's turn sitting by the bedside of St. Arfish and then was distracted and failed to record these final words, she was banished to Clatteringshaws.   She takes up residence in a roadside park convenience - or privy.  Here she is befriended by the Loch Grieve Monster - the Tatzelworm, and controls The Hobyans - with her golf club.  She also is instrumental in helping Dido and Simon find the heir to the English throne.  "Joan Aiken said that your imagination is the greatest gift you have; life will always be a mystery, but through stories we share, we can find our way of coming to terms with it."  The imagination of this great storyteller has given a tale set in the "forested, loch-studed hinterlands of Scotland which "invites readers into a spellbinding world of magic, mystery, and mayhem - with a does of proper'English hilarity, of course.