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Reviews:
Across the Pond by Storyheart (Barry Eva) review copy
The Cat's Book of Romance by Kate Ledger personal collection
The Dragons of Spratt Ohio by Linda Zinnen library book
Frog on His Own by Mercer Mayer library book
Gravitation Volume 1 by Maki Murakami personal collection
Harriet and the Roller Coaster by Nancy Carlton library book
Heat Wave by Richard Castle bookcrossing
If You Give a Pig a Party by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond library book
Into the Volcano by Don Wood personal collection
Polar Bears Past Bedtime (Magic Tree House #12) by Mary Pope Osborne
So B. It by Sarah Weeks library book
Stop in the Name of Pants by Louise Rennison personal collection
There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer personal collection
Waterwise by Jeff Orff library book
Wee Gillis by Munro Leaf library book
Whoo-oo Is It? by Megan McDonald library book
Frog Goes to Dinner by Mercer Mayer library book
Ghost Town at Sundown (Magic Tree House #10) by Mary Pope Osborne library book
Harriet Beecher Stowe by Suzanne M. Coil library book
If You Can't Say Something Nice, Say it in Yiddish by Lita Epstein personal collection
Incubus, Succubus by Neil James Hudson review copy
Journey Around the World by Sarah Albee personal collection
King Ottokar's Scepre by Georges Remi Hergé library book
Mrs. Muffly's Monster by Sarah Dyer library book
Operation Starseed by JM Snyder personal collection
The X in Sex: How the X Chromosome Controls Our Lives by David Bainbridge
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss personal collection
You Had Me at Halo by Amanda Ashby personal collection
Can Kittens Take a Catnap? by Clair Palfreman-Bunker personal collection
Halfway to Each Other by Susan Pohlman review copy
I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears by Jag Bhalla library book
If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond library book
Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha-ha!by Barbara Park personal collection
Junie B., First Grader: Boo and I Mean It! by Barbara Park personal collection
Lions at Lunchtime (Magic Tree House #11) by Mary Pope Osborne library book
Madras on Rainy Days by Samina Ali library book
Max's Christmas Stocking by Rosemary Wells library book
Me, Myself and I by Jane Louise Curry library book
Paddington Bear and the Busy Bee Carnival by Michael Bond personal collection
Where Are Maisy's Friends? by Lucy Cousins library book
The Divorce Party by Laura Dave review copy
Sarah Whitcher's Story by Elizabeth Yates personal collection
What Happy Working Mothers Know by Cathy L. Greenberg review copy
The Witches of Worm by Zipha Keatley Snyder library book
Murder in the Magick Club by Byron A. Lorrier review copy
Wolf Song Visions by Scott and Linda Reade review copy
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The Witches of Worm: 12/29/09

I love The Egypt Game by Zipha Keatley Snyder and decided to read The Witches of Worm when I saw it at my local library.

The Witches of Worm is set in San Francisco, presumably contemporary to when it was published (1972). Jessica lives in an apartment pushed up against a hillside (fairly common in parts of the City) and spends much of her time in the care of a neighbor. Her mother meanwhile is working multiple jobs so Jessica is left to her own devices. She decides to explore the nearby hillside and finds a cave where she stays well into the night. She also finds a nearly newborn kitten whom she takes home even though she doesn't especially like cats and isn't looking for a pet.

Worm as she and her mother decide to call the kitten, requires all of her attention (as all newborns do) and thrives under her reluctant care. Unfortunately he doesn't seem like any normal cat. He doesn't play. He doesn't purr. He just stares. And soon Jessica believes she can hear him talking to her and demanding she do horrible things to people.

Witches of Worm could have been a fascinating middle grades horror and psychological drama. It had some moments but mostly it was just a sad and oddly paced novel about a broken cat who had been taken from his mother too young and a similarly damaged tween who doesn't have friends her own age nor the love and attention she desires from her mother. She sees the solution to her problems in the form of an exorcism on Worm whom she believe is trying to make her into a witch.

If you've read The Crucible you will find familiar themes in The Witches of  Worm but set in modern times and without the mass hysteria of a town turned against the misfits of its society. With all the emotional build up in the novel the climax and resolution were lacking payoff for me.

Comments (2)


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Comment #1: Tuesday, December, 29, 2009 at 19:20:20

Mariana N. Blaser

Wow, I like your frankness when reviewing the novel. And you don't give in too much spoilers, so even this no being a "wonderful" novel, so to say, you got me intrigued. Nice review! :-)



Comment #2: Friday, January 8, 2010 at 18:33:13

Pussreboots

I think I just wasn't in the mood for the novel. It was a lot darker and angrier than The Egypt Game.

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