Customer Reviews

Jane-Emily: And Witches' Children

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Hi Sonja...

Patricia Clapp was my grandmother. I was very young when "Jane-Emily" was published, and although I tried to read it then, it scared the daylights out of me. To this day, it is the one book she wrote which I can't get through. My oldest daughter, now 15, has read Jane-Emily a bunch of times and loves it.

My grandmother died two years ago. I'm sure she would have loved knowing how her words touched your life.

Jen

It's a shame this book is nowhere to be found. I checked Jane-Emily out of the library every weekend my entire third-grade year. For fifteen years, it's blend of romance, psychological drama, gothic suspense and unforgettable characters has remained in my subconscious. Without giving the plot away, I must say that there are pieces of the book that are still so vivid to me -- the forbidding house, the giant glass ball in the yard, Emily locking herself in her bedroom. Jane-Emily is remarkably mature for a YA novel; many of the themes and situations are ones present in adult fiction of this genre (reincarnation, ghosts, a haunted house, mysterious death), and it borrows a lot of it's gracefully dark, ominous style from Edgar Allan Poe and Shirley Jackson. I would love to read Jane-Emily as an adult -- it would be like stepping back into a relentlessly haunting memory. WHERE IS THIS BOOK?

I too read this back in the 70s, and adored that little chill, the thrill of the suspense and the scare. I do wish they would reissue for this generation of readers. I can't think of anything current that has the same feel. There's none of the gore of modern horror, just the scare of the inexplicable, the unknown, and the eerie. I'd snap it up for my younger relatives in a heartbeat if it were available.

As a child, I read this deliciously chilling book over and over, and it caused me never to look at lawn-ornament reflecting balls in the same way again. As an adult, I checked Jane-Emily out of the library a few years ago to see whether it was as good as I'd remembered, and surprisingly, it still gave me goosebumps!

I'm disappointed now to see that Jane-Emily is out of print, so that I will have trouble finding a copy to share with my children. The story, with a little bit of historical detail, a little bit of romance and coming of age, and a whole lot of things that go bump in the night, is definitely worth a reprint!

I am so delighted to see that other people have the same kind of memories about this book that I do. It is hard to pinpoint exactly why this book struck such a chord with me--but it did. I've reread this book as an adult, and I think one thing that made this book such a compelling read is that it is about a nine-year-old girl, but it is written from the point of view of an eighteen-year-old girl. This perspective allows the pre-adolescent reader for whom the book is intended to identify with the emotions and issues facing both children and young adults. After all, don't most twelve-year-olds feel like a child one moment, and then nearly grown up the next? Also, Jane-Emily deals with an astounding number of issues in more depth than you'd think possible in such a short book: death, fear of abandonment, romantic love, love between parent and child, friendship, and the classic battle between good and evil. I wouldn't argue that Jane-Emily is the best-written book for children I've ever come across. (It's good, not great, in that regard.) But for pre and early adolescent girls, this book is just a dead-on perfect hit. It really is magic.

Last summer I was at the library with my 10 year old niece and suddenly remembered the title of the book about the ghost-girl and the reflecting garden ball. All my life, I thought of that story whenever I saw one of those reflecting balls (and now I have one in my own garden!)

We found a tattered copy in the library and read it together. It struck the same chord with me in 2001 as it did in 1976, when I first read it, and it was one of those books I read again and again. My niece loved it, although she was a bit scared. The book contains some heavy themes for a pre-teen: life, death, love, loss, reincarnation, but is a wonderfully told story. This book stands the test of time and I wish it would be reprinted.

I first read this book back in grade school, so many times I can't remember. I loved it! I hope that Amazon.com can find a copy so that I can share it with my nieces. I think of it every summer as I look at pansies or a reflecting ball in a garden.

I'm so excited and surprised to read so many reviews that could have been written by me. The stirring memory of this book, which I read 18 years ago- and only once- has left such a lasting impression that I have been unable to forget it. I get flashes of images that were originally summoned by this book and I feel that they were almost my own personal memories. I am anxiously awaiting a battered copy in the mail. So many things are rarely as good as one remembers, but I'm sure I will not be disappointed!

I also have fond memories of this book from grade school. I searched for the book for years without success, and finally found it in the "Gothic" romance section. As you may recall, the original cover has a "gothic" appearance, and anyone unfamiliar with this book would never guess that it is a children's book.

Many thanks to the publishers who deemed it time to reissue this classic tale of the supernatural by Patricia Clapp. Imagine my delight when I saw the book at a local bookstore, after all these years! I have been relying on my local library all this time [a dog-eared copy that has been lovingly taken care of]whenever I've felt a desire to re-read this timeless ghost story.

For those unfamiliar with the tale, it centers around a nine-year old orphan, Jane who together with her young aunt Louisa, goes to spend the summer with her paternal grandmother Mrs Lydia Canfield. As soon as they get there, a sense of foreboding permeates their visit, as young Jane begins to take an unhealthy interest in her deceased relative, Emily, who died many years ago at a tender young age. Emily however was no sweet little girl, but possessed of a wilful temper, and bent on getting her way, to the detriment of those around her. Are the unusual happenings in the Canfield house a result of coincidences or something more sinister? Is young Jane an overly imaginative young girl or someone who is being controlled by a supernatural force? These and other questions are satisfactorily answered through Patricia Clapp's superb, timeless ghost story. It is high on atmosphere, and is a perfect introduction to the horror genre for younger readers [and even adults like me:)].