Witch's Sister [Turtleback]

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2003

Lynn suspects her sister Judith is being taught witchcraft by old Mrs. Tuggle who lives next door. Lynn and her friend Mouse try to prove Mrs. Tuggle's guilt, but after no luck, they give up--until one night when Mrs. Tuggle comes over to babysit Lynn's little brother, Stevie. Can Lynn save Stevie from being sacrificed? HC: Atheneum.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor includes many of her own growing-up experiences in the Alice books. She writes for both children and adults and is the author of more than one hundred and thirty-five books, including the Alice series, which Entertainment Weekly has called "tender" and "wonderful." In 1992 her novel Shiloh won the Newbery Medal. She lives with her husband, Rex, in Gaithersburg, Maryland.  Visit Phyllis online at alicemckinley.wordpress.com --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Turtleback
• Publisher: Demco Media (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606284818
• ISBN-13: 978-0606284813
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

More About the Author

I guess I've been writing for about as long as I can remember. Telling stories, anyway, if not writing them down. I had my first short story published when I was sixteen, and wrote stories to help put myself through college, planning to become a clinical psychologist. By the time I graduated with a BA degree, however, I decided that writing was really my first love, so I gave up plans for graduate school and began writing full time.

I'm not happy unless I spend some time writing every day. It's as though pressure builds up inside me, and writing even a little helps to release it. On a hard-writing day, I write about six hours. Tending to other writing business, answering mail, and just thinking about a book takes another four hours. I spend from three months to a year on a children's book, depending on how well I know the characters before I begin and how much research I need to do. A novel for adults, because it's longer, takes a year or more. When my work is going well, I wake early in the mornings, hoping it's time to get up. When the writing is hard and the words are flat, I'm not very pleasant to be around.

Getting an idea for a book is the easy part. Keeping other ideas away while I'm working on one story is what's difficult. My books are based on things that have happened to me, things I have heard or read about, all mixed up with imaginings. The best part about writing is the moment a character comes alive on paper, or when a place that existed only in my head becomes real. There are no bands playing at this moment, no audience applauding--a very solitary time, actually--but it's what I like most. I've now had more than 120 books published, and about 2000 short stories, articles and poems.

I live in Bethesda, Maryland, with my husband, Rex, a speech pathologist, who's the first person to read my manuscripts when they're finished. Our sons, Jeff and Michael, are grown now, but along with their wives and children, we often enjoy vacations together in the mountains or at the ocean. When I'm not writing, I like to hike, swim, play the piano and attend the theater.

I'm lucky to have my family, because they have contributed a great deal to my books. But I'm also lucky to have the troop of noisy, chattering characters who travel with me inside my head. As long as they are poking, prodding, demanding a place in a book, I have things to do and stories to tell.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A deliciously spooky tale, February 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Witch's Sister (Paperback)

A house with dark shadows and bad energy, on top of a windswept hill ... an old lady who, at first, seems like a kindly grandma but perhaps is more of a sinister figure ... a young girl who watches with growing concern as her older sister acts more and more strangely after spending increasing amounts of time in the old lady's house on top of the hill ... what a well-written, spooky tale (the ending is especially thrilling)! And luckily for readers, this is the first in a series of books about this brave young girl's battle with evil. Too bad it's not available right now -- this is a classic book that all kids AND adults would enjoy reading.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite childhood memories, October 7, 2004

By 

debeehr "debeehr" (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Witch's Sister (Paperback)

This book and its two sequels were some of my favorite books when I was a kid, although the third one--THE WITCH HERSELF--was not as good as the first two. This is a convincingly creepy book, and what makes it especially good is that the author is very careful not to show anything that definitely proves that Judith and Mrs. Tuggle can do magic, thus leaving the question open as to whether Lynn and Mouse are imagining things. The friendship between Lynn and Mouse is well-drawn, and the author does a good job of integrating the supernatural plot in with everyday happenings of Lynn and Mouse's life.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best witch books ever..., November 28, 2001

By 

Dale Hrabi (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Witch's Sister (Hardcover)

I think it's kind of sad that this author has fallen prey to the trap of writing SERIES books like the Alice series. This is one of her older books, and although it has a few sequels, it is one-of-a-kind and does not have that "first of a series" production-line quality that has ruined children's literature. Highly original, truly scary, richly evocative...a wonderful justaposition of creepy magic and mundane suburbia. A modern classic of sorts.