Title:

Witch Child                                                                 YA #3

Author:

Celia Rees

Publisher:

Candlewick

Date:

2001

ISBN:

0763614211

# of Pages (Readership):

261 pp. (YA)

Genre

Historical fiction

Diversity

Colonial period (witch hunts), Pentacook American Indians

Plot Summary:

1659 – 14 year-old Mary Newbury lives with grandmother in English. GM accused of witchcraft and hanged. Mary abducted a hanging by veiled woman who prepares her to make passage to America with Puritans. When woman lifts veil sees her own eyes; knows this is her mother. On ship, adopted by Martha, also traveling alone. P. 32 finds letter from mother. M. meets a young seaman onboard and discovers she has “the Sight” when she sees Jack’s past and future and his death as a whaler. M. and M. looked on with suspicion; Martha is a healer, using herbs and woman’s wisdom in childbirth and treatment of injuries and illness. When they arrive in Salem, find own Puritan congregation has moved out into the forest. With the help of “Red Indian” guides (Pentacook), they find settlement. M. takes more and more chances at not being a Puritan youth – hides and dresses in men’s clothing to collect plants from woods and swims nude. Young Indian named Jaybird takes her to visit his grandfather who recognized Mary’s powers, calls her “Eyes of the Wolf.” He tells her the hare she saw onboard and in the forest is her GM. The diary ends when Mary is accused of witchcraft. Martha writes the final four pages that are sown into the quilt.

Theme(s):

Labeling people because they have different beliefs is discrimination and can lead to persecution. 

Personal Response:

Rees’s vivid descriptions of the voyage and the setting in America add richness to the story. The characters are well-drawn and illuminate the fear that leads to hysteria in the colonies. The premise of the journal entries being written by Mary and preserved by sewing them into a quilt will be intriguing to readers. Mary’s extra-normal powers and her relationship with Jaybird, young Pentacook Indian, are particularly interesting aspects of the story.

Curricular or Programming Connections:

Colonial period

Puritans

Witchcraft

Discrimination

Persecution