Hmm. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy reading it, it just seemed a bit pointless at the end. There are better books about magic, about imagination, about friendship, about school in the 1960’s, and there are better books by E. L. Konigsburg. Read some of them instead.

Some of these taboos seemed pretty hard. I told Jennifer that I didn’t think some of them made any sense. She told me that if I were looking for things to make sense, perhaps I wasn’t yet ready for promotion. I asked Jennifer if she always obeyed the taboos. She said that she always did—except that now she was allowed to light matches. I remembered that she had had to light a candle when I first became her apprentice. I was convinced that I could, I would, obey. I asked Jennifer for a list of the taboos so that I wouldn’t disobey by mistake. She said that witches don’t rely on lists. The list might get lose and fall into the hands of some good person and that would mean trouble for witches all over. She said that I must memorize the lit before school started the next day. She was afraid that back at school my mind would be all cluttered up with school stuff. Right then I had to learn them all; Jennifer checked me. She stood up and said to me, “You have reached the end of your apprenticeship. You are now a journeyman witch.”

An old favorite from childhood, re-read. There's something really charming about the matter-of-fact writing style so common to children's literature of the 1960s, however it does come with some less than ideal racial tropes and stereotypes.

I suggest reading Konigsburg's delightful The View From Saturday or From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler instead.

The messages underneath the surface of a charming Macbeth setup in this book are not positive (manipulative friendship portrayed as desirable, adult hitting a child presented as a casual joke, reinforced sexist adult gender roles... ).

Another winner

I just finished reading three e.l. Konigsburg books with my twin nine year old boys. We loved them all. I had only read one of these as a child, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler, it was as great as I remembered. Next we read A View From Saturday, another wonderful book. And we just completed Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, And Me Elizabeth. It is a winner and we can't wait to start another.

Cute.

I never read this as a child, but really enjoyed this story of two misfit girls who practice witchcraft in New York. Their secret friendship empowers them in unexpected ways and the author tells a good story, as always.

One of the best books I remember reading as a child but then I was drawn to books about ostracized kids and anything involving fantasy. So this book about a girl in a new school, having trouble making friends and all the bits about magic and witches... it was a good match for my reading tastes. It also got me very excited to actually read Shakespeare's Macbeth, which I ended up reading early and loved it.

A nice easy read about friendship and growing pains. Elizabeth moves to a new town and has a hard time fitting in. She meets Jennifer and a new friendship develops over the course of a year. Elizabeth is a strong character who realizes people aren't always who the pretend to be.

I liked it but it's not as good as other E.L. Konigsburg books I've read (The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The View from Saturday). I didn't like the ending and I didn't sympathize with the characters that much. Elizabeth was a bit too gullible and Jennifer was pretty bossy........but putting myself in the perspective of a 10 year old, those traits make sense. Thus, it's a bittersweet read for me.

I really enjoyed this book. I found parts of it hilarious. It was an easy, quick read. Themes of friendship, growing up, learning how to interact in social situations, and being happy with who you are.

I was not crazy about this book. In this story, Elizabeth has moved to a new home and a new school. She has trouble fitting in with the already established social structure of her fifth grade class. She has a nemesis, Cynthia, who will be familiar to anyone who has ever been to school. Elizabeth finally meets an odd girl named Jennifer, who chooses to befriend Elizabeth.

There were charming moments, in which Jennifer puts Cynthia in her place while supporting Elizabeth. But there were also times when Jennifer seemed just mean. It is never clear why she does this. It seems clear that Elizabeth goes along with Jennifer's shenanigans because Jennifer is her only friend.

Elizabeth's parents are completely clueless - about school, friends, and anything else in Elizabeth's life. Elizabeth is left to figure things out on her own. In the end, she does. Perhaps the author meant this ending to demonstrate that if you stand up for yourself, good things will happen. That's not clear, however, and the trials Elizabeth faces outweighed anything she might have learned, at least for me as a reader.

I really like some of Konigsburg's books. This is not among my favorites.

Hmmm. I'm not sure what to say about this book. It was good, but I definitely prefer the other books by Konigsburg that I have read. My favorite part is probably the interesting title. I'm not sure how I feel about Jennifer. She doesn't say please or thank you; she isn't particularly nice to Elizabeth. I'm just not sure.