Finished my book on the train to work and realized the battery on my Kindle was dead, so I grabbed a book form my classroom library I hadn't read in a while. I've been recommending this to all my kids asking for scary stories even though I hadn't read it since I was their age. It's still great, although I'm not sure that the kids looking for a scary book will be very satisfied. The only scary parts are close to the end. The characters are so well-written, though.

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.

The Headless Cupid exists in the same eerie world as Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Witch books Witch's Sister and The Ghost Next Door or Lois Duncan's Summer of Fear (The Children of Green Knowe has this flavor as well, only more gothic and less suspenseful). Snyder was one of the masters of the craft of children's literature; The Headless Cupid continues to hold up really well. It's deliciously slow, and like the best suspense and ghost stories, tricky. She uses David, her main character, and his thoughts and beliefs to trick us into thinking things are one way... and then turns the tables on us in a most extraordinarily wonderful way. I never need blood and gore to make my spine tingle - The Headless Cupid is perfect that way.

Cute story!

The four Stanley children - David, Janie, Esther and Blair - are fascinated by their new stepsister Amanda in The Headless Cupid, drawn by her claims to be a practitioner of the occult. When Amanda offers to teach the children about the supernatural world, the “ordeals” she arranges to test them seem mostly aimed at antagonizing her own mother Molly, whom she blames for her parents’ divorce. But when David and Amanda discover that their house was once believed to have a poltergeist, and Amanda holds a seance to contact the ghost, a series of frightening incidents occur...

The first in a series of titles about the Stanley children (continuing with: n  The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Casen, n  Blair's Nightmaren, and n  Janie's Private Eyesn), this charming family drama is quite similar to n  The Egypt Gamen, in the sense that events which at first appear to be supernatural, are later discovered to be the result of more mundane human agency. Snyder's second novel to be named a Newbery Honor Book, The Headless Cupid is an engaging, suspenseful mystery for young readers, and showcases the author's sensitive appreciation of the subtleties of childhood experience...

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.

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.

Another "Halloween" book I found while going through all my bookshelves. A fun read but I feel no need to read any more of this series, the characters just did not resonate with me. Poltergeists are not my favorite ghost stories but this one wasn't bad.

(3.5 stars) I didn't think I was going to like this at all because of Amanda's attitude and all the witchcraft / occult content, but I enjoyed it because the book was grounded around David and his siblings. I thought Snyder was astute in her portrayal of Amanda, dealing with divorce and remarriage, contrasted with the Stanley children, whose mother had died as they formed a blended family. I liked how the "real" Amanda was drawn out by the end of the book. Regardless, I won't hand this book to any of my kids because I'm wary of books that might encourage them to play around with the occult.

I remember reading this book and loving it as a child, but on re-read I had zero recollection of any plot points of characters except that it was "creepy." As an adult, creepy it isn't, but it makes sense why I loved it as a child--it has so many similarities to the other "creepy" books I loved--blended families, close sibling ties, supernatural elements, mysteries to be solved. I especially enjoyed the different personalities of all of the kids, and the way they're trying to fit together as a family.

A little predictable, but hey, I'm not ten anymore.

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 read this as a young girl and loved it and recently read it again to my children and loved it even more. My 15 year old son even commented on how he liked the way she did the characters--one of the big reasons I like it so much too. It is a great read-a-loud for many ages--I read it to all my kids. The three year old didn't get into it but from ages 6-15 they were spellbound.