Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth

"All year long she was a witch, disguised as a perfectly normal girl"
By sally tarbox on 1 May 2018
Format: Paperback
Last read this aged about 8!! But bits of it still come back almost 50 years on...
Written in 1967, the story is narrated by lonely new-kid-in-town Elizabeth; walking to school on her own, she encounters the mysterious Jennifer sitting in a tree. A fellow student - and also something of an outsider- Jennifer has created a witch's persona for herself. The magic powers she attributes to herself allow her to look on, with a secret smile, as the 'in-crowd' (centred around Cynthia) do their thing.
Under Jennifer's tutelage, Elizabeth begins training as a journeyman witch. Spells, potions, a toad, a cauldron... all played out show more against school and home life.
Some kids' books don't work when you read them as an adult...but this is still a great read! show less

Jan. 2021, reading for the Newbery Club. First thought, boy this mom is inattentive, giving E. three cookies for lunch on Halloween, and not caring a bit about E's trick or treat plans or companion. Well, I'm a mom, so yes I noticed. I like her better later as we learn more about her and her r'ship w/ E.

I like the details. For example E. has to write "I will not be tardy" 100 times, so to amuse herself she numbers the lines in Roman numerals and practices different kinds of handwriting with each sentence.

There's a lot of subtlety here... a lot of showing not telling, which means it would be great for discussion in a reading group. The twist ending is kinda, erm, interesting... I really wonder if the publisher put Konigsburg up to that. show more Probably not, on second thought, because she'd already earned a Newbery Medal the year before.

Speaking Newberys, this is the second Honor book of the year that features witchcraft. Hmm.... show less

This seems to be a slightly abridged version of "Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth"? It's not stated that Elizabeth is new to town and I recall no mention of William McKinley.

It's a cute book and I recall it fondly from when I read it as a kid but reading it now I feel sorry for Cynthia, the girl who Elizabeth claims is so mean and so revels in all the tricks played on her: from this distance I see very little evidence of Cynthia's meanness, certainly not enough to justify what amounts closely to bullying from Jennifer and Elizabeth.

Nor is Jennifer, the hero to Elizabeth's worship, overly admirable, though one does sense that she's hiding an even more desperate loneliness than Elizabeth. So it's a relief show more that their unhealthy relationship of most of the book seems to give way to a more equal and real friendship at the end. show less

This is another that took me back to my closet as a child. It really brought back all the feelings I had as a child. These are a couple of quirky, lonely kids that find each other. I really saw myself in the characters when I read it back then. A fun read, very satisfying ending. Konigsburg is a treasure. My book group loved it and it caused a lot of discussion.

About the development of the friendship between the new girl and a very smart and confident loner; both very interesting personalities. The story moves along slowly and what I perceived as aspects of theme were subtle. I wonder how widespread enjoyment of this story would be as it took a while to sink in.

This was a very different kind of story from other young childrens' books that I've read. Not as much fun as the recently read Anastasia Krupnik. The interest it held seemed more a curiosity about what was to come rather than what was happening. Also of interest was that I liked the book more and more over the 24 hours after I finished it then I did at the moment I finished. If this were a more complex rating system I'd have to give show more this more thought but it definitely reached 3-1/2 stars so it gets rounded to 4. show less

Published in 1967, and a Newbery Honor book, this is a simple story of an odd friendship. Elizabeth, our narrator, is a fifth grader. She is small for her age and doesn't have any close friends. When she meets Jennifer, who seems to be the only black girl in the school, a peculiar friendship begins to develop. Jennifer claims to be a master witch, and declares that Elizabeth is now her protege... a witch in training, so to speak. Almost all of this slim volume is taken up by the witch training process, which Jennifer seems to make up as she goes along. In the end the girls have a spat, make up, and end the book as friends in a more traditional sense.
Although it was a quick, fun read, I didn't see any depth to the story. If there was any show more more to it than what I outlined above, I missed it. show less

Elizabeth is new in town. She is on the small side for her age. She also hasn’t made any friends. She walks to school through the small woods, and that is where she meets Jennifer.

Jennifer is tall to Elizabeth’s short. Jennifer is also thin and can be a bit rude and bossy. But then Jennifer is a real witch! And she takes Elizabeth under her wing as an apprentice witch.

The girls spend Saturday’s together learning spells and rituals and other parts of becoming a witch. They also work on creating a flying potion and collecting the items that need to go in the potion. But just before they create the potion, something causes a rift between them.

The story is about developing friendships and the balance of two personalities to keep the show more friendship intact. The give and take of each in some form or another.

Adults and kids can take something away from this book. The actions and motives can be found at any age level. show less