A Spell is Cast

So yeah, I read this now for the (marvelous as always) illustrations by Beth & Joe Krush and to clear up my memory of it. And as I'm going along I remember reading it once as a child but not particularly liking it (despite all the aspects that do charm like writing style, setting, fairy tale vibe...) until I get to the end and realize what's wrong.

The males are dangerously moody. Both Dirk and Peter are absolutely the kind of people who make lousy husbands and fathers. They can charm when they choose to, but accidentally cross them and they go cold, try to warm them up and they're more likely than not going to lose their temper and strike out.

If you see your daughter reading this, ask her what she thinks of those guys' behavior.

Being of the left-handed persuasion, I found it interesting how Cory's caury-fistedness figured into the story. (The Scots apparently think, quite unlike most ethnic groups, that lefties are enchanted and to be valued. After several of Irish nuns' attempts to make me right-handed, and completely failing, I was eventually left alone to my perverted inclinations. ;-))

It's a sweet story of a young girl's attempt to find a home, with an equally sweet conclusion. Cameron was a master of her genre. May she rest in peace. (For what it's worth, she was left-handed. ;-))

I read this book many years ago., probably soon after it was published in 1964. (I was still in grade school in a very small rural town.) It was in my fifth and sixth grade classroom library and I still remember the cover of this book and how exciting it was to read. I couldn't put it down. I ran across it the other day in a library collection and just looking at the cover brought back memories. It must have had a big impact on a very impressionable reader back when it was first published. I am not going to rate it as I haven't re-read the book, but if just being able to remember it after forty years is any indication of the power of literature for young people I would highly recommend it.

Cory feels like she doesn't belong to anyone. She is an orphan hoping to be adopted by the only mother she has ever known. While her mother is traveling, Cory is sent to her (foster) grandmother and uncle's house . Mysteries unfold about the family, and why Cory hasn't been adopted yet. In a desperate quest to find out where she really belongs, Cory must put together the clues, and she is helped in part by her new friend Peter.

Older readers might be able to figure out themystery much sooner than Cory does, but it is still fun to read how it all plays out. I had a small difficulty in relating to some of the characters, especially Cory, who at times seems needy, but no wonder when I discover more about her. Some of the minor characters show more seem completely flat, either just acting as props (almost) or are unaccountably hostile. It would have been nice for them to be more fully drawn. But these are my only complaints. Overall, the book is interesting and easy to read. show less

very good. I read this book as a child. Rereading it I found the description of eyes that I loved so much. I was delighted to find it again. Her eyes were "the color of the golden-brown moss that clings to rocks at the bottom of a clear running stream"

Ex-lib. Abbott School (Ann Arbor) library