When the day comes that the four Stanley children are to meet their stepsister, Amanda, they find that she is nothing like they had expected. Astonished at the fact that she is on the act of studying witchcraft, they decide to join in for a little bit of fun with her as well. As they go through initiations, seances, 'practice' spells, get together at midnight to go over some rituals, and go through a set of tests to see if they are 'magic', the Stanley children are doing pretty well! However, it doesn't seem like they are the only bit of 'magic' in the household. When disturbances begin to occur, and rocks are thrown in through the window, vases are broken, and painting are ripped off walls, David at first suspects Amanda for causing the havoc. However, when he digs into the history of the house, it seems to be that beneath the dust of old age, legends have it that a poltergeist haunts the house, also leading to the beheading of a wooden cupid of the stairway. Will the ghost strike again?
David is a responsible eleven year old boy and always takes care of his younger siblings. At the beginning, he is doubtful of Amanda's snide appearance, and he cannot seem to dispel her sinister expression from his mind from when he first met her. When he first meets Amanda, he feels the strongest premonition that he has ever felt when he met a person. The premonition that when Amanda joined the family, he would have to expect some drastic differences and that Amanda would give him a lot more to think about than the average stepsister. Not to mention that he has a slightly interesting feeling about getting an older sister all at once.
Esther (or Tesser, as she calls herself), is four years old- short and solid with straight brown hair and fat pink cheeks. She is terribly determined, but uses other means to get her way than to use her high pitch of sound (scream) and to throw things at people. She has Janie's stubborn spirit, but not her violence!
Blair is David's little brother and has a way with animals. He seems to understand animals, and they seem to understand him. He's quiet and doesn't speak much, but can talk when he wishes to. Quite magical, he astounds Amanda with his ways. But Amanda seems apparent that she doesn't wish to show it!
Janie is a bit temperamental. When stuff doesn't go her way, she's likely to throw a temper, scream, and throw stuff. She's the one with the crazy ideas that usually get the others really dirty, in lots of trouble, or both! When the children are in a sceme that is remotely crazy, Janie's probably the one behind it all!
Amanda is the least aggreable of them all, and probably my least favorite character. She is cold, and doesn't work well with kids. Not very friendly in any way and is very thorny. Studying witchcraft, she has a bunch of strange things in her inventory. As prickly as a porcupine, it's going to take a lot to make her soften! She is more than slightly spoiled, and doesn't seem to bode well to the Stanleys.
Yes- they are a weird bunch, but not compared to the weird doings around the house. Zilpha Keatley Snyder wrote a novel about witchcraft, magic, poltergeists, and a beheaded cupid, all mixed with family trouble. It was an okay book, but I have to say that sometimes, it seemed a little boring. It is recommended for children 8-12, and for people who are in need of a little dose of magic. Not enough adventure in my point of view, not to mention that there weren't that many really magical doings in the actual book....... So much for a magical book. It was mostly just pretending. However, I have to say that in the beginning of the book (in the end, it kind of changed), she did a pretty good job in arranging the characters personalities: from David's easy-going one to Amanda's snide, rude, and stuck-up one!
**** I give this book a 7.5 out of 10. Again, it was okay, but some points were downright dreary, and almost made we wish to skip ahead...... ******
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