Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth [Paperback]

E.L. Konigsburg (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 27, 2007 | Age Range: 8 and up

Elizabeth is an only child, new in town, and the shortest kid in her class. She's also pretty lonely, until she meets Jennifer. Jennifer is...well, different. She's read Macbeth. She never wears jeans or shorts. She never says "please" or "thank you." And she says she is a witch.

It's not always easy being friends with a witch, but it's never boring. At first an apprentice and then a journeyman witch, Elizabeth learns to eat raw ends and how to cast small spells. And she and Jennifer collaborate on cooking up an ointment that will enable them to fly. That's when a marvelous toad, Hilary Ezra, enters their lives. And that's when trouble starts to brew.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6- E.L. Konigsburg's (Atheneum, 1971) funny novel of two lonely girls receives an update in this narration by Carol J. Stewart. Stewart's soothing voice brings the story to life without belittling typical schoolgirl dilemmas. Elizabeth is new in town and having trouble making friends. When she meets Jennifer, things take a turn for the better. Jennifer claims to be a witch and she recruits Elizabeth as her apprentice. The girls communicate through notes and secret messages, which always appeal to this age group. As part of her apprenticeship, Elizabeth has to eat raw eggs, onions, spaghetti noodles and give up sweets for the holidays. There are also taboos for the girls to follow or face the consequences. During their weekly meetings and rituals they plan to invent a flying ointment. The two develop a special friendship as they spend time in the library researching the formula for this magical ointment. As in all friendships there must be some give and take, and Jennifer and Elizabeth soon discover theirs is no different. The satisfying ending will please anyone who has ever had a special friend. This recording will appeal to fans of Konigsburg and may win some new followers along the way.
Ginny Harrell, William McGarrah Elementary School, Morrow, GA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Review

"An entertaining tale that has staying power."

-- School Library Journal, starred review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers; Reissue edition (February 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416933964
• ISBN-13: 978-1416933960
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

E. L. Konigsburg is the only author to have won the Newbery Medal and be runner-up in the same year. In 1968 From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler won the Newbery Medal and Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth was named Newbery Honor Book. Almost thirty years later she won the Newbery Medal once again for The View From Saturday. She has also written and illustrated three picture books: Samuel Todd's Book of Great Colors, Samuel Todd's Book of Great Inventions, and Amy Elizabeth Explores Bloomingdale's. In 2000 she wrote Silent to the Bone, which was named a New York Times Notable Book and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, among many other honors.

After completing her degree at Carnegie Mellon University, Ms. Konigsburg did graduate work in organic chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. For several years she taught science at a private girls' school. When the third of her three children started kindergarten, she began to write. She now lives on the beach in North Florida.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A TREASURE OF WONDERFUL MEMORIES! I STILL LOVE IT! August 14, 2000

By BeatleBangs1964 TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

My mother bought me this book for my 8th Christmas and it remains a favorite to this day. In it I found a sympathetic character in Elizabeth, the protagonist of this story. I could well sympathize with her inability to make friends easily (I had that same challenge) and agonizing over her small stature. I had the opposite problem -- I always thought I was abnormally tall until I reached my maximum height at 12 and am NOT tall for any adult!

It was an interesting coming together of these two loners, Elizabeth and Jennifer. I think the whole "witchcraft" thing was to a large extent, childhood wishful thinking and playacting and the natural wish to distinguish oneself among one's peers. I loved this book and delighted in the antics of the two girls.

Elizabeth's nemesis, the phony, duplicitous Cynthia is easily recognizable. I had to endure my share of "Cynthias" growing up and I can remember thinking how laughably clueless adults were to the phony, smarmy charm such creeps like Cynthia oozed. I thought it was mean of Elizabeth's mother to make her attend Cynthia's birthday party and to constantly sing Cynthia's praises to her. People who praise Other People's Children to their own make me tired. That certainly did not help Elizabeth's esteem. I could relate to that because my mother used to sing the praises of other people's children to me. I can remember telling her time and again, "She's/They're just pretending to be nice because YOU'RE here. I can't just walk up to kids and make friends." It was only after I had become an adult myself that I realized that my mother and her peers were not as susceptible to the smarmy Cynthias as I had been led to believe. It was in recent years that she has told me that she knew all along what sneaky, miserable little wretches those "Cynthias" were and that she was "friendly to them in the hopes they'd be nicer to me" whether she was present or not. How wonderful it would have been to have told me that in the first place! I would have known she was an ally then instead of easily misled by other people's children! This book is an eye opener for all ages.

I still laugh uproariously over the way Elizabeth ate a raw onion per Jennifer's direction for a week. Her bizarre eating habits paid off -- I loved it when her onion breath scared nasty Cynthia who ran off the stage during a school play. I also loved the way she fixed Cynthia's wagon at Cynthia's birthday party by challenging her phony charm. Each time Cynthia oohed and aahed over a gift and asked who it was from, Elizabeth would call out the name of the giver, thus spoiling Cynthia's fun. I cheered when Elizabeth stepped on nasty Cynthia's foot when the latter stuck her tongue out at her when she left the party. I remember at 8 thinking, "Elizabeth, you don't need Cynthia. One of these days she'll get it." Many years later, I wanted to say, "Just remember, there is life after elementary/middle school. Creeps like Cynthia may have won a battle or two, but they won't win the war. I hope you see Cynthia fall flat on her phony face."

It is a delightful treasure trove of memories and a book well worth reading at any age. I still love it and I have my original hard back copy that I got when I was eight.

Ideal companion book to MY SECRET BULLY, which is the flip side of this book. Instead of condoning the bullying behavior in aggressive girls, Katie's mother defends her daughter and helps empower her by giving strategies on how to deal with the malicious, destructive behavior of bullying girls.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A late discovery January 8, 2002

By J. de Manuel

Format:Paperback

At 33, I would not have been attracted to this book had I not spotted the author's name under the title. Eureka! Another book by the author of "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil Franweiler" which my mother had borrowed from the library for a Children's Literature class she was teaching and which she had to return, overdue, because my sister, 11 years older than me, was enjoying it unbeknownst to us. But I digress.

Elizabeth is short, unglamourous and lonely. She meets an unlikely friend in Jennifer, a mysterious girl who is eerily familiar with Shakespeare and claims to be a witch. They hit it off and Jennifer takes on Elizabeth as her apprentice witch. For Elizabeth, this means eating one unpleasant thing after another and gathering the ingredients for an ointment of flying. Things seem to go terribly wrong until Elizabeth, displaying as much genius as Jennifer, realizes that Jennifer has claimed her as a lifelong friend.

There is much in this book that rings true to the present, and will continue to do so for as long as friendships exist. It reminded me of my own best friend in the fifth grade. He's a guitarist who played in one of the best rock bands from my city, and I got into computers. Our paths were quite different, but when we run into each other, we're still those boys from the fifth grade.

My own kids are still far too young to appreciate this book, but I'm saving it for them.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous story for those who are 'different' July 19, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a child drawn towards Shakespeare, Witchcraft and other esoteric fare in the rural South in the 1960's, I had a rough time of it. I can still remember the exquisite surprise of finding this book in the school library. Here was a little girl who knew what it was like to be different - and to be a witch. The charming storyline has stuck with me for more than 30 years, and I'm happy that I can now share it with my little girl.

The ending was, as I recall, a tad disappointing, but it did not detract from the overall story.

Treat your children or yourself to this one - you'll be glad you did.