Poetry #2 - Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials

Author: Stephanie Hemphill

Credit: Stephanie Hemphill

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hemphill, Stephanie. Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials. New York: HarperCollins, 2010. ISBN 9780061853302

PLOT SUMMARY

Wicked Girls is a fictionalized account of the Salem Witch Trials in the 1690's, told from the perspectives of the young ladies in verse form. A chain of events will change their town forever due to Ann Putman Jr. and a group of young ladies as they begin accusing the town of witchcraft. The tension grows in the town as men and women are singled out one by one and accused of witchcraft and are condemned to jail or death. We can witness the thoughts, feelings, and actions of Ann, Mercy, and the young ladies of Wicked Girls.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Stephanie Hemphill writes a beautiful, haunting free verse historical novel about the Salem Witch Trials. Her voice and style is found and heard on every page of this book by using the details of the history from the Salem Witch Trials. At the beginning of her novel, she sets the scene of "Salem" through haunting words and foreshadowing. For example, "The cold is gray and fierce, bitter as a window at the grave". Throughout the book, Hemphill will use the seasons to change not only the setting but the mood of her novel. "Autumn Ahead" is a change for the better, a foreshadow that "The leaves promise, to hold tight their branches, but their colors soon be changing." Hemphill  stayed with the style of writing, and the characters spoke with the dialect of the English of the 1600's.  The strong emotions and feelings are felt throughout the book. For example:

They drop the noose

over Goody Nurse's head

All's quiet and still

as the air round a loaded gun.

The old woman

kicks her knees,

torments

as she's snuffed into hell.

I turn my eyes to the dirt.

Before she's hanged,

the next witch,

Goody Good, the old beggar woman,

one of the first witches accused, hollers, 

"I'll not lie to thee now

as I never would afore.

I am innocent."

Credit: Stephanie Hemphill

AWARDS AND REVIEWS

* Best Children's Books of the Year - 2011

* Booklist Book Review - 2010

* Kirkus Book Review - 2010

* School Library Journal Best Books - 2010

* “In subtle, spare first-person free-verse poems, the author skillfully demonstrates how ordinary people may come to commit monstrous acts. Haunting and still frighteningly relevant.” — Kirkus Reviews 

* “Wicked Girls weaves a fresh interpretation of the events put forth in Arthur Miller's The Crucible and revisited more recently by Katherine Howe in The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane…Teens may need some encouragement to pick up this book, but it deserves a place in most high school collections.” — School Library Journal

CONNECTIONS

Activities to use with this book:

* Research Salem Witch Trials and share with the class. Create a PowerPoint to share with the class. Each student can select a character from the book to research their history to share.

* Discuss the character traits of all the characters in groups of 2/3, list them to share with the class as the students re-read the poems.

* Read the poems aloud in groups of 2/3, discuss the feelings and emotions the characters are going through.

Book Connections:

* Your Own, Slyvia - ISBN 9780440239680

*  Sisters Of Glass - ISBN 9780307981417 

* Blog created for the purpose of TWU, Children's Literature Course #5603, and for the love of reading!