What have I barked about? What have I barked about?.If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price. Wicked Girls is an engaging read that I will definitely put in my high school library. I love that she included this glimpse into her brain. Further resources are listed should the reader wish to learn more, and she writes about her motivation for writing the story. She goes in to detail about the real people and what happened to them, as far as we know. Hemphill’s author notes in the back are thorough.
Each girl has a unique voice so the perspective changes are not hard to follow. I can see this book being used in so many ways, not just to bring attention to a piece of history, but to also talk about mean girls, and to study character voice.
Teens will relate to the bullying, group think, and peer pressure that drives the characters. I could not put this book down! Hemphill’s portrayal is very believable. I was so happy when a copy soon came in the mail for me. I saw this book on display at ALA and the cover made me yearn to read it. The book spans a year as many innocent people are arrested and put to death. Each girl has her own motivation, and the way they use the power they hold is frightening.
Ann often leads the group as they name the “witches” who “torment” them, but the power in the group is fluid and loyalties change. Margaret and Mercy are drawn in, as are several other girls. Two local girls, Betty and Abigail, are the first to be afflicted, and Ann quickly joins in. The reader soon meets the other main characters: Ann Putnam Jr., the 12-year-old who yearns for attention, namely from her mother and Mercy, and Margaret Walcott, a 17-year-old cousin of Ann’s, with a fierce streak of jealousy. The novel opens with Mercy Lewis, a 17-year-old servant in the Putnam’s house, as she gives the reader an idea of what life in Salem Village is like: cold, little to eat, lots of distrust of others. It is a fascinating take on a piece of American history about which we know many facts but not the full story.
Stephanie Hemphill uses free verse and three different character perspectives to tell a fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials in Wicked Girls. Copy provided by HarperCollins for review. Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill read in July, 2010.
0 kommentar(er)
