This is a fun mystery with just the right amount of spookiness for a children's book. Even though it was written in 1971, it doesn't seem to old-fashioned - other than the kids being left home alone while parents go into town thing. But maybe even that still happens in areas as isolated as the setting for this book. This kids spend most of the day playing outside, but I've noticed that even modern children's books don't really feature kids sitting inside all day playing computer games (except The Everything Machine where it's an actual plot point). I definitely would have loved this book as a child.

DNF'd at about 50%

I love Zilpha Keatley Snyder, but I just could not get into this story. I'm disappointed, I remember reading this when I was younger and liking it. Egypt Game holds up, but this one not as much.

This is probably the book that made me want to be a witch when I was ten

I love the way she weaves family drama with the supernatural so seamlessly that you aren't quite sure where one leaves off and the other one starts. Brilliant and just as good as I remembered it.

After re-reading The Witches of Worm, I got the urge to re-read another Snyder novel that pleasantly creeped me out as a kid. This was still a good novel this go-round, and as with Witches of Worm, I was a lot more aware this time of the psychology involved with the characters. I may need to revisit The Egypt Game sometime soon...

I liked Davis’s character. However, I’m so surprised this won anything. Very little description and another story by the same author that presents the occult in a very alluring fashion. None of it is scary or creepy but shows how turning to occult practices is an excuse for bad behavior when you are upset. I’m giving Amanda a break- she is really hurting and lashing out. Why is this a blended family only a year after a mother passing away from a long illness? Just all bad decisions by all the adults around and kids caught in the middle. None of this is fleshed out and another rushed ending. This is almost my last 1970s Newbery honor book- thank goodness- really disappointed in the majority of them. Definitely going to skip The Egypt Game.

A lot of it was predictable, but not the goosebumps.

A middle school book about the supernatural and poltergeists. The Stanley family moves into an old house and strange things are happening
A timeless book I wish I had read when I was young

3.5

This author weaves a great tale - just enough eerie speculation with witchcraft to create an engrossing story without going overboard especially considering the target audience. I liked all of the child characters; I think they complimented each other well and each had hidden strengths on which they could count when situations became unbelievable and supernatural. David carried a great deal of responsibility for his younger siblings, and once Amanda, his older step-sister moved in, he mistakenly assumed that his burdens would be shared. I liked the ingenuity created, especially by the younger Stanley children, Janie, Esther and Blair, when attempting to complete the daily requirements to become novice witches themselves. The book also chronicles real life struggles as the Stanley children mend from their mother's death, Amanda's resentment of her parents' divorce, and Molly's new responsibilities as a new wife and mother of five.

Amanda is the new kid in the Stanley family. She believes in the occult and is moody when she moves in the country and into a supposed haunted house. David is the eldest of the Stanley family and tries to be patient with the bossy Amanda. When strange happens occur in the house, David must uncover if it really is a ghost or something else. The drawings by Alton Raible are magnificent as usual. I love how Zilpa writes and the worlds she creates.

Very interesting read. Zilpha Keatley Snyder was one of my favorite authors as a kid, and I was glad to find this in a Little Free Library. I read for nostalgia, and to remind myself what children's books used to be like.

Weird, that's what. This book came out in 1971, when supernatural stuff really was kind of real. There's some pseudo-spiritualist hippie stuff in this book, almost like the author was trying to tell kids how to practice witchcraft. It's a fun way to remember how kids used to talk to each other and get into trouble. There isn't a whole lot of suspense. It's mainly these kids doing kooky stuff, but this is a good enough ghost story.