Oh my GOODNESS, what was this? I was expecting light and fun, and this was TERRIFYING. And the ending was so.. inconclusive? GOSH. I felt uncomfortable during the whole read, but that might have been a good way of seeing how well this was written.

BUT GOSH.

What a great Halloween read! The Witches of Worm encapsulates so many of the reasons I love Zilpha Keatley Snyder's scarier stories: the subtle storytelling, the increasingly claustrophobic atmosphere, and the complicated but wholly believable lives of the child heroes. There is nothing pandering or condescending here; no cheap jump scares or pools of slime or any of the tropes used by adults humoring childrens' requests for scary stories. In fact it could be argued that The Witches of Worm isn't even a horror story in the conventional sense. It's implied that Jessica's growing fear of her cat is really a catalyst(no pun intended) for her repressed anger and loneliness, and she unconsciously uses it as a way to distance herself from guilt or shame over bad things she does out of anger. And when she is given the tools to solve what she thinks is the problem, Jessica is able to see Worm for what he really is, and to let herself accept the emotions she has been tamping down for so long.

The Witches of Worm is a great choice for psychological horror fans middle school and up. It's a tense and multilayered story, and even adults can find a lot to appreciate in it.

Autumn's witch-a-thon continues with my introduction to the fiction of Zilpha Keatley Snyder, her Newberry Medal winner The Witches of Worm. Published in 1972, the book arrived on my radar by virtue of its stellar reviews and while I'm very critical of what's become known as the Young Adult genre, I'm not above enjoying them, particularly those in the vein of Lois Duncan where teenagers vulnerable to the whims of adults encounter the supernatural. Terror and adolescence go hand in hand in this sub-genre, something I find relatable. There were qualities I admired in this novel while I was reading it, but too little I found memorable.

The story concerns Jessica, a twelve-year-old latchkey kid who lives in the Regency, an apartment house with her single mother, Joy. While mom is a vivacious blonde who would rather turn to stone than stay home and bake cookies, daughter is a sullen loner who lives in her own imagination. Jessica is estranged from her only two friends. Brandon lives at the Regency but has gone from participating in adventures with Jessica to shunning her, or vice versa. Diane, who was never as exciting but easy to get along with, has deserted Jessica for a new friend who lives in the posh neighborhood up the hill, overlooking the Regency from the top of a steep cliff.

Climbing the cliff to a natural stone shelf near the mouth of a cave, she reads a book called The Witches of Salem Town, having found an article on witches in one of Joy's women's magazines and gone looking for more information at the library. She is reading about Ann, the most famous of Salem's witch accusers, who was also twelve years old at the time of her purge. She is interrupted by the sound of movement and at the rear of the cave, discovers a mute and hairless animal that could only be a baby kitten. Jessica dislikes cats and has no nurturing side to her, but lives in the same building as an old cat lady named Mrs. Fortune she feels might help.

She looked terribly old, older than forever, and her faded dress of heavy brown material hung loosely on her thin body. Her long gray hair was tied at the back of her neck with a piece of string. People had always talked about Mrs. Fortune's strange appearance, but Jessica had never paid much attention to it. Now, suddenly, she found herself thinking. She does look weird. It's a good thing for her she doesn't live in Salem in the olden days. But out loud she only said, "Hello, Mrs. Fortune. I've come about this." She pulled the kitten out of her pocket and held it out. "I thought maybe you might want it."

Mrs. Fortune saddles Jessica with the responsibility of feeding and cleaning the kitten every two hours. Joy, who has long encouraged her daughter to adopt a pet who would keep her company, is repelled by the animal and urges her daughter to take it back to its mother. She offers Jessica a darling Persian from the pet shop. She tells Jessica the kitten looks like a worm and the name sticks. Through her lonely summer vacation, Jessica takes care of Worm, who does not develop attractiveness as it grows and while acknowledging Jessica, doesn't lavish her with attention. She talks to Worm nonetheless and begins imagining what he might say back if he could speak.

By the time school starts, Jessica is lonelier and more bitter than ever. Joy is spending more time with a new boyfriend named Alan, who Jessica does not consider the paternal type and might not want her around for long. She begins hearing a voice in her head which she attributes to Worm. The voice urges Jessica to do things. Her first stunt is to cleverly snitch out Diane after she catches her walking home from school with her new best friend past a certain arcade where Diane's mother has forbid her from parading around. Next, she tells a nosy neighbor named Mrs. Post obsessed with murderers and robbers that she saw a strange man in the apartment house, sending her into hysterics.

Confronted by her daughter's lies, Joy does everything she can not to get involved in parenting. When Jessica is put in charge of laundry before Joy takes off for the weekend with Alan, Jessica throws her mother's $75 red dress in the wash and destroys it. Going into a catatonic fit when confronted with her behavior, Jessica is scheduled a visit with the school counselor, whose tests Jessica is confident she fools by telling a story about a baby being forgotten about in a park, where leaves slowly cover it up. Jessica's destructive behavior continues under the guidance of Worm, who seems to advise her that Mrs. Fortune knows more than she tells. Jessica goes to visit the old woman.

"Witches--about believing in witches--it's not a question I'd care to answer for just anyone who might ask. But I can see you have reason for wanting to know. So, I'll tell you this. Belief in mysteries--all manner of mysteries--is the only lasting luxury in life." She stopped for a while and nodded as if agreeing with what she had just said. Then she went on, "Yes, my dear. I'm quite prepared to say that I believe in witches." Her face crinkled into the cozy expression she used when she talked to her white cats. "I believe in the witches of yesterday and today--and in all shapes and sizes."

There were qualities that I admired about The Witches of Worm. Snyder is restrained in her exploration of the occult and allows the reader to decide whether supernatural events have enveloped Jessica, or she's suffering from an emotional breakdown. Parallels between her behavior and the Salem witch hysteria are made lightly by the author, who writes about latchkey children and single mothers a decade before the media acknowledged that the nuclear family was breaking up. The Newberry Medal is well-earned as many children who feel neglected and are on the verge of self-destructive behaviors might read this book and realize they are not alone.

My admiration never crossed over into emotional involvement though. Snyder skips over so many details, a characteristic that seems to be a requirement in a lot of Young Adult books, where forward momentum and high drama always trump any sort of retrospection or reflection. Nothing is explored about Joy's past, or the identity of Jessica's father. The details of Jessica's estrangement from Brandon remain unexplored until practically the climax of the novel, even though the hints Snyder drops involves physical abuse and is begging to be explored. While the Regency and Jessica's isolation there feels real, the tenants do not.

The Witches of Worm might appeal most to young readers or those who don't want to read a long novel, particularly if they have any interest in the paranormal. Snyder's prose doesn't allow for detail, but it does evoke a certain gothic atmosphere and creepiness, and the topics she explores concerning latchkey kids and single parenting do make the book important. I wasn't captivated by anything that went on in the story, but understand I wasn't the demographic Snyder was writing for either.

This is a great, spooky book for children to read over the Halloween season. I can't remember exactly (I'll have to reread it), but there was one particular part in it that scared me to death. I just remember shutting the book to find my parents. After this, I tried to find and read every book Zilpha Keatley Snyder ever wrote.

Fantastic book, in part because it lets its child protagonist do and contemplate some genuinely awful things. She mistreats her cat! (I mean, she considers doing a murder, but also she's mean to her cat.) One of the very very rare "is magic real or is she just troubled?" stories which actually satisfies even kids who love fantasy novels. Best description of this book is "uncomfortable"--which is why I remembered it so strongly.

If there are editions that DON'T have the Alton Raible illustrations, avoid those & see if you can get one that does.

Proper review pending until I give it the reread it deserves, but this was the first non-Stephen King horror I ever read as a child, and the sense of creeping dread it inspired in me then still sits at the back of my neck, where it gives the occasional creepy-fond stroke down my spine.

"Belief in mysteries—all manner of mysteries—is the only lasting luxury in life."

—The Witches of Worm, P. 116

"But now and then, beneath the outer numbness, something stirred, like a living pain waiting for the anesthetic to wear away."

—The Witches of Worm, P. 101

This book is one of the most pleasant surprises in literature that I have had in quite some time.

The Witches of Worm is a wonderfully smooth, completely enjoyable read, marked with evocatively descriptive language and enchantingly colorful simile all the way through. Zilpha Keatley Snyder seems to be at her absolute peak in this fantastic volume, having created very real atmospheres of taut suspense and echoing loneliness, deeply hidden anger and the unpredictability of close relationships in this sometimes searing look into the life and thoughts of a troubled girl named Jessica.

Rarely has this subject matter been tackled with such superb skill. The framing of Jessica's friendship (or non-friendship, as might more accurately be the case) with Brandon is so original and resonant as to vault it up there with some of the best such candid views in all of juvenile lit. In the same vein, the complexities that fill the scenes in the extraordinarily rendered relationship between Jessica and her mother, Joy, will cause just about anyone to pause and think, to consider what it says about connections between people in general and what it speaks about their own families.

The most significant message of this book has not as much to do with the supernatural elements themselves as with the major issue that they reveal: one can try to find an escape path for one's own problems by looking to the actions of those around oneself, but even if it is true that one has been hurt by others, it is only when one learns to take personal responsibility for the results, regardless of any outside influence at all, that one puts one's own success or failure into his or her own hands. It is an easy lesson to recite but so terribly difficult to learn in one's innermost parts, deep down where it truly can settle in and be believed by oneself.

The Witches of Worm truly is a splendidly affecting book, and a genuine pleasure to read. I gained a great deal of valuable insight by experiencing this novel, and I am very happy to have done so. I gave much thought to upgrading this book to three and a half stars.

"We all invite our own devils, and we must exorcise our own."

—The Witches of Worm, P. 157

First-class, A1 horror novel.

There are so many levels to this.

Jessica goes out to a cave that she likes to play in. It's night. She's reading a book about the Salem witch trials. She hears a scratching, scuttling sound in the cave and discovers an abandoned kitten. It's hairless, eyeless, ugly and silent. She tries to give it to the local cat lady, who refuses to take care of it - it needs to be fed every two hours and helped to eliminate its waste.

Jessica hates the kitten and is disgusted with it, but finds herself inexplicably drawn to it, waking up every two hours to care for it. While she feeds it she heaps verbal abuse on it, letting it know how disgusting she thinks it is.

She names it Worm. It's thin, grey, and sightless, and squirms around like an ugly worm.

Worm grows up, but he never becomes a cute kitten. Instead he transitions immediately from ugly, eyeless Worm to thin, grey, silent, slinking fully-grown Worm.

Unlike other cats, Worm never plays. He never meows. He's completely silent, exuding an anger and haughtiness that almost frightens Jessica.

Then he starts talking to her. Worm's howling, growling, scratchy voice tells Jessica the truth: "I am a witch's cat."

Who is the witch? Who would send this familiar to Jessica?  Jessica herself is the witch.

Then Worm starts telling Jessica to do awful things. Evil things. Malicious things. And Jessica feels helpless to resist.

This book received a Newbery Award Citation in 1973. It is one of the most chilling and disturbing pieces of literature I've ever read. I was introduced to it as a child and it's haunted me all my life. I adore it, and hold it up as one of the best examples of children's literature ever written.

The book has been banned multiple times for themes of witchcraft and demons.

Another great facet to the book are its characters. Mrs. Fortune, the old, slightly "off" cat lady who lives in Jessica's building. She has a palsy - shakes constantly - and is bone-thin. She owns so many cats that the building stinks of them. But she loves the children in the building - Jessica and Brandon. Even though she looks like a witch, or a crazy loon, or a feeble old lady - she is none of these things. She's a person with a rich past and a vivid imagination. She's very mysterious, but loving and fair.

Brandon, Jessica's ex-best friend who threw her over for some boys from class. He's shockingly violent, punching Jessica when he doesn't get his way and displaying an awful temper. He also has a vivid imagination, and they've spent 7 year together acting out every book or movie they've ever seen or heard of. He's also, in some ways, a better person than Jessica, as  he shows compassion to Mrs. Fortune whereas Jessica has none, and he likes animals and protects them from abuse, and Jessica is an animal abuser.

Joy, Jessica's only parent and a mostly absentee one. Pretty, thin, flirty, blonde - the spitting image of a famous Swedish actress - she is always out late with a man or working long shifts at her low-paying secretary job. She's concerned about Jessica but has no idea how to engage with a person who is technically her daughter but whom she has spent almost no time getting to know or understand. She sometimes criticizes herself for being a "terrible mother" but does absolutely nothing to modify or change her behavior. Jessica's obvious used to taking care of herself - going out on her own, cooking for herself, and doing the laundry.

A third layer is added as  you realize that Jessica is a Gone Girl in training. She is almost without conscience, lying, manipulative, and destructive. How far is she willing to go to get the world to bend to her will? It's chilling when you realize that Worm isn't a demon - but Jessica definitely is a witch...a witch who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Evil (or at least psychologically damaged) little girl (age 12) done here so well it sends chills down my spine. Is this because she's born this way? Because of her noticeable lack of any kind of parenting? Because her friends have abandoned her? I don't know. But she gives me goosebumps.

I really, really love this book. When I was a little girl the library owned it on audio cassette tape and I would listen to it over and over and over again. It's so dark and disturbing and delicious. I highly recommend it to any kid, teen or adult.

P.S. The illustrations are astonishingly creepy.

storyline was so bleh and honestly didn’t make any sense to me. We have our main character Jessica who’s kinda annoying and bratty who’s stuck with this kitten named worm that turns out to be the most unnormal cat there is. Jessica is constantly left alone bc her mother Joy is always at work or with her man. Then we have Mrs pots and Mrs fortune who are 2 elderly neighbors that are kinda weird in their own ways.

This book, picked up quite by accident, was wonderfully suspenseful and creepy. I remember reading this, and then devouring everything else our little public library had about witches and the supernatural. In the 4th grade, I wanted nothing more than to be a witch. My how times, and the mercurial interests of children, change.

Zilpha Keatley Snyder does psychological novels that seems paranormal but aren't. Excellent writing. Has some freaky bits. Her writing sucks you in. But this is not a light read. Though geared towards kids, as it has an eleven/ten year old protagonist, the topics are serious, such as abandonment, loneliness, and the messed up psyche of a latch key kid. This book parents ought to discuss with children when they read it.

I don't know what to make of this. The main character, Jessica, is basically an evil psychopath who finds breathtakingly convoluted ways to blame anyone and everyone else. The story suggests that the issues started when she took home a demon-cat, but long before the cat she got in a fight with her best friend because they were acting out a story that involved howling wolves and she found a dog that was tied up and she started beating it with a big stick to make it howl and when her friend stopped her she got mad that he was jealous because she had improved the game. Her mom is so narcissistic and self-obsessed she barely acknowledges having a daughter, takes no interest whatsoever in her daughter's life, and actively excludes her from all aspects of her own life. If this book were set today she would probably have been removed from the home for neglect. Jessica makes one visit to the school counselor, in which she practically waved giant red flags saying "I have serious issues and need intensive long term therapy and treatment" but the one visit appears to be all that there is. The end suggests that maybe things will be different in the future, but Jessica has serious unaddressed mental health issues. I can't believe this was a Newberry Medal Nominee.