One of the rare books that I loved as a kid that still holds up upon reading as an adult. David's new step-mom has a daughter, Amanda, who is quite taken with the occult and also not terribly pleased with being moved to the country to live with her new family. Amanda decides to make the kids her "neophytes" and initiate them into magic and spells. However, a real supernatural occurrence is more than she, or anyone, bargained for.
I never knew when I was a kid that this was the first in a series about the Stanley family. Now, I've acquired them all and am excited to read them.

This book was just as good as it was when I read it as a child!! The newly formed family described from a child’s perspective! What child has not held a séance? So glad I took the time to reread this old classic that I loved back then, shared with my own children, and now enjoyed as an adult!

As an adult reader, I didn't find as much mystery in this one as a child might; however, I am still stunned by Zilpha Keatley Snyder's uncanny ability to capture the minds and behavior of children. Her characters are so real. I especially loved talkative Janie, who gets physically ill after not talking for 24 hours and who loves being scared so much her "best day ever" was the day she almost got hit by a car.

This line amused me greatly: "The kids were running around the lawn in their bathing suits, and David was watering the garden and the kids at the same time."

The Headless Cupid / Zilpha Keatley Snyder / 1971
The Stanley kids are adjusting after the death of their mother a year ago. They've moved to the country, and their father has remarried. Along with a step-mother, they also get a step-sister. Amanda is 12 and a little angry at the world. She's a self-styled witch, complete with a pet crow, a snake, and a horny toad as pets. She dresses oddly and has very little use for the Stanley children: David, 11; Janie, 6; and the twins Blair and Esther, aged 4. The kids are beguiled by Amanda and think her interest in the occult is neat and they want to join in. My inner 12 year old was all in with this story!

Reading this as an adult, I can appreciate the way the author has captured the personalities of the children. The plot foreshadowing is pretty good, and the supernatural portions of the story are subtle and fun. The story arc expertly weaves together all the nuances of divorce, death, and "poltergeists." Its fun to note that the story takes place in a time when kids had more freedom in the summer. The Stanleys and Amanda are basically on their own to entertain themselves. No play dates or overscheduling like today's kids, just a few chores and endless hours of fun! The children are also portrayed as mature and resourceful. Their father has to go away for three weeks, leaving his new wife Molly and the 5 kids on their own. Molly is an artist, working on a series of paintings and pretty much lets the older kids look after the younger kids and as long as they're behaving she doesn't interfere with their pursuits. The ending provides some closure to the supernatural happenings in the way of a double plot twist and a wide open set up for the next book!

Many Goodreads reviews waxed nostalgic. Adults are rereading the story and sharing with their own kids/grands. One reviewer, however, droned on endlessly about "glorifying the occult" and some blah blah blah about the devil. Shade was thrown at the Newberry award, and there was even a lengthy scripture thrown in for good measure. There's always one wet blanket in the crowd. Originally I thought a 3 star rating was enough but after ruminating all day I've upgraded to 4/5 stars. And it's the first in a series.

The Headless Cupid did not disappoint on this reread! Last time, I found the middle of the book too slow, with the way it details several of the initiation ordeals Amanda puts her stepsiblings through. But this time I found this part just as enjoyable as the rest of the story. It has a lot of fun or intriguing moments, providing some levity before things really become sinister.

This time, I noticed a lot more of the subtext about Amanda. The clues are subtle, but Snyder was very smart about giving the impression of how Amanda uses "witchcraft" to make herself feel important and powerful during a difficult time in her life. It's also quite telling when she talks about her friend Leah that she always seems to be making excuses for her friend. It seemed to me like Leah was also using magic as a sort of ego boost herself. The fact that Leah kept all the money that she and Amanda made with their charms and potions hints that Leah may not be averse to manipulating her less experienced friend for her own gain. As much as Amanda acts sophisticated and jaded, she is still very young, insecure, and perhaps a bit naive.

I've read The Headless Cupid three times now, and it has held up beautifully. There's a lot to be said for any book that you can read many times and still keep discovering new things within. It's a truly unique and surprising story, and one I can heartily recommend!
Old review:
3.5 stars

I think I liked The Headless Cupid more the first time I read it, but it still held up pretty well upon my re-read. The story and characters are still pretty good, and the character development of Amanda is especially notable. But I did feel that this book was missing something that could have made me enjoy it almost as much as The Egypt Game. I think the main thing that keeps me from loving this book is that the story slowed down a bit too much in the middle, when not much seemed to happen other than the Stanley kids trying to complete Amanda's challenges. But Zilpha Keatley Snyder definitely has a talent for creating atmosphere through her writing, and Alton Raible's illustrations are as wonderfully atmospheric as they are in The Egypt Game. I also think it was a great decision to leave the ending ambiguous and mysterious. If everything had been neatly wrapped up it would have lost its impact.

This certainly hasn't replaced The Egypt Game as my favorite Zilpha Keatley Snyder book, but it was still very much worth re-reading.

4.5 A lot of negative reviews seem to focus on Amanda’s lack of likability. To me that just signals a lack of empathy in a person’s reading. Maybe even a little bit of wanting portrayals of children to be rose-tinted rather than realistic. I like reading about characters who make mistakes, characters who sometimes deal with their feelings poorly, etc, not only in middle grade books, but maybe especially in middle grade books. Being a kid is hard, and everything is more intense, there are a lot more firsts, therefore a lot fewer experiences to draw from when things happen.

I liked this book a lot, and look forward to reading more by Snyder, since I missed out on her as an equally imperfect kid.

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.

David and his three younger siblings move into an old and mysterious house with their dad, new stepmom and her peculiar daughter, Amanda, who is twelve to David's eleven. Amanda is interested-slash-borderline-obsessed with everything occult, to the point that she moves in along with a crow, a toad and a snake despite the fact that the crow treats her viciously and she's afraid of reptiles. She quickly establishes herself as the leader and pulls David and the little ones into an elaborate series of initiation rites. David begins to sense that her strange behavior is less about witchcraft and more to do with all the recent changes in her life. When they learn that there may have been a poltergeist in the old house long ago, however, things start happening and David works to solve all sorts of mysteries.
An interesting story and a fun read that pulls you in and keeps you page-turning. David's character is immediately likable, and Amanda and the rest of the kiddos are completely believable and easy to root for.

Not my favorite. I didn't enjoy reading about a bratty girl and I didn't enjoy the quickness of the ending. Why do books have to spend so much time on the problem and the build up and yet spend little time after the situation is resolved? I think readers deserve to know what happens next, especially to make it seem more realistic. And this ending wasn't satisfactory at all.

I loved Zilpha Keatley Snyder as a child and I was curious to see if her books stand up. I'm also re-reading lots of my childhood favourites, and analyzing them and paying more attention to how stories are told.

This book stood up well. It was well written and had a great plot and was still creepy. I plan to read more of Zilpha's books. I loved them.

There's only one section of the book that didn't stand up and that's a section where the characters were playing slave drivers and slaves. I can't picture that happening in a modern day kid's book.

Kindle Daily Deal 8/13/14

I really wasn’t sure what I was getting into with this book. Was it a paranormal thing, was it a cute story about children learning how to live together as a mixed family? Each description spun it differently, so I started the book confused as to what I was supposed to think about it. This book centers on David, the oldest of the Stanley children. Amanda comes to live with them, and he finds her interesting. She studies the occult and witchcraft and takes the Stanley children as her apprentices, to teach them how to do spells and read the future. The thing is, they may have awakened a ghost with their activities.

I enjoyed this book; Snyder perfectly encapsulates a lot of what it is to be young. The tense friendship that David and Amanda strike is incredibly realistic; she resents her mother for re-marrying, but she also likes having friends and other people to entertain, so they have a somewhat “frenemy” vibe. I also absolutely loved how the magic-teaching was handled in this book. I have had seances and done spells at ten years old that could be a direct copy of what was done in this book, which was just perfect. However, this all provides a backdrop for exploring issues surrounding divorce and re-marriage: learning to live in a new place, accepting that your parents are no longer together, being a sibling to kids you haven’t met before, etc. Amanda is incredibly confused and hurt by her mother’s remarriage, so she works it out through these magical activities. This would be a great book to give to a fanciful child who’s having some issues dealing with a separation.

However, the story isn’t overly heavy and laden with emotional trauma. It’s fun and whimsical and has some great paranormal stuff going on with a possible haunting. I like that it toes the line between paranormal and realistic, not really leaning in either direction. This is well worth its Newbery Honor and I highly recommend it.

Also posted on Purple People Readers.