Skip to main content

Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem

By

Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem
by Rosalyn Schanzer
National Geographic, 2011. 144 pgs. Non-fiction.

Rosalyn Schanzer's powerful pictures combine with her chilling text to tell the tale of one of the darkest episodes in American History. Nineteen people were hanged during the Salem Witchcraft Trials, one died from being pressed to death, and from four to seventeen others died in prison. Schanzer tells the stories of each victim in a calm, understated prose that heightens the horror of regular people imprisoned and executed on the basis of Spectral Evidence generally given by hysterical/mentally ill/or malicious children. Irrational fears and grievously misplaced zeal led to misery and tragedy for many families in Puritan New England, and Rosalyn Schanzer's remarkable book tells the tale for young people in an impressive fashion.
Labels:

Comments

Marsha Judkins said…
I am a sucker for non-fiction. This looks like a great book to read in preparation for Halloween--I have put it on my "to read" list. Thanks for the review!
October 10, 2011 at 11:15 PM
Marsha Judkins said…
I read this on Halloween. :) I am sooooo glad I live where and when I do!! This was a very fast, fascinating, thorough, well researched and well written book--I really liked the way that Schanzer told the story. Wow, the 1600s were a horrible time to live in so many ways. I have read several other books on this subject, but still learned a lot from this one. Thanks for letting me know about it.
November 3, 2011 at 3:16 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

By
KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Kareem Between

By
  Kareem Between By Shifa Saltagi Safadi New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2024. Fiction. 324 pages.  Kareem loves football and as he gets ready to start seventh grade he dreams of someday becoming the first Syrian American NFL player. Seventh grade is not off to a great start for Kareem, after football tryouts don't go as he had planned, his best friend moves away, and his mom returns to Syria to help bring his sick grandfather to the US for treatment. So when Austin, the quarterback and coach's son, offers to talk to his dad and get Kareem on the football team in the spring, if he will cheat and do his homework for him, Kareem agrees. Kareem really wants to fit in at school and he is desperate to find a friend, but deep down he knows that doing Austin's homework isn't the right thing to do. And to make things harder, Kareem's mom asks him to be a friend to Fadi, a Syrian Christian refugee. He knows he should stand up for Fadi and help him adjust to the new school,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: A World Without Summer

By
A World Without Summer: A Volcano Erupts, a Creature Awakens, and the Sun Goes Out Written by Nicholas Day Illustrated by Yas Imamura New York: Random House Studio, 2025. Informational. 294 pages. In 1815 on a small island in Indonesia, Mount Tambora erupted. The blast was the largest in human history, and one of the deadliest. Though it couldn't be understood at the time, the deadly blast half a world away would lead to catastrophic famine in Europe, prompt westward expansion in America, and inspire the novel Frankenstein  by Mary Shelley. The global climate disaster following the explosion also led to inventions like modern meteorology and the early invention of the bicycle. The people living at the time couldn't have seen how everything was connected, but this fast paced narrative assures that readers will. As he did in 2024's Sibert winner The Mona Lisa Vanishes, Nicholas Day does an impressive job of weaving together different historical events into one single, compell...
Post a Comment
Read more