9/3/23 addendum: I just finished re-reading this as a bedtime book with my daughter. I remember reading this when I was in fourth-grade, and my daughter just recently started back to school as a fourth-grader. She wasn't sure about this to begin with, but as we kept reading it, she really got into it. It may be a little dated, but it didn't seem to affect her enjoyment.

I remember seeing “Poltergeist” in the theater when I was ten, and it terrified me. I especially recall the scene in which the guy starts ripping his own face off. I think I screamed at the top of my lungs through that entire scene, covering my eyes with my hands but peeking every second or two to see if it ended. My sister, 6, was also screaming and wailing.

(Funny story: my sister was a blubbering mess of tears by the end of the movie, which elicited a lot of disapproving and horrible stares toward my mom from other movie patrons. She was kind of mortified, because she hadn’t wanted to see it, or bring the kids, in the first place, but we were with relatives visiting in town who had wanted to see it, so she reluctantly agreed. Anyway, walking out of the theater, my sister---tears miraculously dried---excitedly screamed, “That was awesome! I wanna see it again!” Which pretty much speaks to the power of a good scary movie. I’ve loved horror movies ever since, myself.)

There is a long history of classical literature involving angry ghosts, haunted houses, and children, starting with some of Aesop’s Fables to Henry James’s “Turn of the Screw” to Stephen King’s “The Shining”. Many childrens’ and young adult authors have found fertile ground with haunted house/poltergeist stories, because children (some, at least) love a good scare.

Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s “The Headless Cupid” was written in 1971, but I would hazard a guess that it gained a resurgence in popularity around 1982, which is when “Poltergeist” came out in theaters. I’m fairly certain that was about the time I read it.

Reading it again, for the first time in 38 years, is a bit weird. I may have grown older and matured somewhat, experienced a lot of things which have shaped a worldview vastly different from my 10-year-old self, but there’s still a part of me that got a goosebumpy thrill after reading it.

Snyder is a wonderful writer, regardless of genre or age-group, but her story is definitely targeted to children in the 10-13 age group, what some call “tweeners”. Not that people in their 40s can’t enjoy it.

The story is centered around David Stanley, the eldest of four children, who, along with a new stepmom and a new old house out in the country, has also inherited a new older stepsister. Amanda’s not that much older---she’s 12 and David’s 11---but she seems much older and wiser based on the fact that she lived in the city and has a certain inexplicable demeanor about her.

She’s kind of quiet, always sequestered in her own private bedroom for hours a day, and she doesn’t seem to enjoy the pleasures of living in the large old estate. Eventually, though, she starts to open up to David, who discovers that she is fascinated with the occult and the supernatural. When weird things start happening around the house, David and Amanda play detective and discover that the house they currently live in was once considered haunted.

Is the ghost that once haunted the place back? Or is there something else going on? Amanda is sure that it is a real poltergeist, but David has a suspicion that it’s something a little less supernatural.

To say more would be spoilers, of course.

“The Headless Cupid” is as fun to read now as it was 38 years ago. Snyder also supposedly wrote a few sequels starring the Stanley kids. It might be fun to check those out, too.

I hadn't read this book in a hundred years, and suddenly thought to read it aloud to the kids! They loved it, and got really into figuring out if there was a poltergeist or if Amanda was just playing pranks. Spooky without being too scary, even for my 6yo.

A slice of life ghost story

Widower Jeffrey A. Stanley, a Geology professor with four kids, David (11), Janie (6), Blair (4), and Esther (4), has recently married artist Molly (surname unknown), who has a daughter Amanda (12). To save money, the Stanley family has moved to an old, broken-down house in the country, a house with a name, as Janie excitedly points out: the Old Westerly House. Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Headless Cupid begins with Amanda's arrival at this old house. But actually, before that, we have an Introduction by Snyder, which contains this character sketch of David

David, from whose point of view the story is told, is loosely based on a boy in one of the fifth-grade classes I taught—a boy who seemed to have a great deal of responsibility for his younger siblings, and who treated everyone with an amazingly mature kindness and sense of fair play.

So David is the hero. Then there is this about Amanda

Amanda, the would-be witch in my story, is David’s newly acquired stepsister. She is a twelve-year-old who is angry about her parents’ divorce and even angrier about her mother’s remarriage into a family with four younger children.

Amanda, not to put too fine a point on it, pretty much acts like a sociopath. Note that I said "acts like", not "is". Amanda, as Snyder points out, is going through some things and is not at this point in time quite her best self.

The Headless Cupid is a haunted house story. There are, it turns out, stories that the Old Westerly House, back when it was just the Westerly House, was haunted by a poltergeist. The manifestations begin again. The mystery of what is causing them is one of the main plot questions of the book. Is there anything supernatural going on? The other big plot point is Amanda's coming to terms with her new life.

This was a slice of life book -- there is nothing very remarkable about the Stanley family or what happens to them. It was not bad, but ultimately didn't grab my interest. The Headless Cupid is the first in a series of four novels about the Stanley family. I don't intend to read any more of them.

Blog review.

I remember reading this when it first came out and loving it. I was nine then, and I read it at least three or four times. I even wrote a poem from the cupid's point of view! I shared that with the children's librarian and she loved it and they printed it in the library column of the local paper. (And she kept it and I never got it back, either.)

I just re-read the book for the first time in 41 years and I'm sorry to say, it didn't hold up for me. Not least, of course, because I've lost all interest in the poltergeist/supernatural/woo-woo thing, but aside from that--it's just one big ol' letdown. It's obvious what's going on, the explanation is beyond pedestrian, and then the ending with the box etc just seems patched on. The first part made me itch, and the second part made me impatient. I see that there's a whole Stanley Family Series, which probably explains a lot. I caught myself skimming, and that's never a good sign.

Mystery

Four siblings and their new two sister thrown together in the country at the start of their first summer together. Everyone is experiencing adjustment and growing pains and then a poltergeist shows up to make it interesting.

I am afraid I am Ingrid.

5/13/20 age 9 - The story is about a boy whose name is David and he wants to solve a mystery with the headless cupid. I loved it! I liked the part when the found the cupids head. I did not like when David was mean to Janie, his little sister. Words that describe this book: exciting, funny, surprising, scary, entertaining. It was sad when those loud thuds spilt milk, and killed a plant. I would recommend this book to people who like mystery.

While I was reading this, I felt like Snyder was ripping off her own work. Then I realized I was confusing this with Konigsburg's Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth which when I read that one felt like she was going for Egypt Game vibes from Snyder. Kind of a vicious circle, which Egypt Game comes out of the clear winner.

This was just mean. This was not a nice book by any stretch of the imagination.

Super fun! Thrilling and supernatural, but is it? But it is? Whom is responsible? Oh my! My family loved this read aloud. We all agreed it was 5 stars. Well-written.

My favorite book as a child. I read it again every few years and recommend to my friends with children.

I bought a copy of this because it was mentioned in a Lemony Snickett book and sounded really cool. Despite being a famous 70s children's book I'd never heard of it or the author! It was interesting. Kids into the occult, having rituals and seances. Definitely something I wouldn't have been allowed to read as a child. But also kinda dumb in that it was clearly the older step sister making things up. But quite enjoyable.

I love reading kid's books, and this one was a real treat. A clever ghost story with themes of tween anger, divorce, and giving someone the benefit of the doubt. Terrific for tweens to read on their own or for mom or dad to read to their kids while cuddling next to them on a stormy night.