Wicked Girls

Hemphill, Stephanie. Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trails.  Balzer & Bray, 2010. 408 pages, $16.99 ISBN: 9780061853289 (trade)

Plot Summary:

Wicked Girls is a novel written in verse about the Salem Witch Trials.  Tong the voice of three of the “afflicted” girls, Ann Putnam Jr., Margaret Wolcott, and Mercy Lewis.  The afflicted girls claim to see the invisible world and are tormented by witches in the town.  Mercy and Ann rival for leadership of the group of seers.  Mercy at 17 is Ann’s senior, since she is only 11, but Mercy is also a servant in Ann’s home, making Mercy socially inferior.  For a time Ann and Mercy rule in peace, but mercy starts to regret the death of innocents and suggests they should stop the charade.  Ann will not allow Mercy, her servant, to say when the game is up. 

Critical Review:

Wicked Girls is a powerful story that reveals just how vicious and persuasive a clique of teenage girls can be.  Ann seems to be the only girl who does not regret their role in the execution of innocent people.  She even goes so far as to threaten her own mother.  The other girls are not much better Mercy and Margaret toy with Margaret’s betrothed, Isaac, almost allowing him to be arrested.  Ann wants power and Mercy, orphaned by war and abused by past masters, mostly wants revenge.  Hemphill’s lyrical verse gives voice to three very different characters.  Wicked Girls is a sophisticated 17^th century version of Mean Girls, and a believable possibility of the vindictive teenage girls behind the Salem Witch Trials. 

Genre:

Historical Fiction

Poetry

Interest Level:

Grades 7 and up

Similar Books:

A Break With Charity Ann Rinaldi

Subjects/Themes:

Witches

Cliques

Teenage Girls

Awards/Honors:

School Library Journal Best Books, 2012

Annotation:
Wicked Girls is a fictionalized account of the girls behind the accusations of witchcraft the led to the Salem witch trials. 

Book Talking Ideas:

Wicked Girls is a story in verse told through the eyes of three of three girls, Mercy, Ann, and Margaret, who claim to be tortured by their neighbors who are secret witches.  What starts as a mean joke soon escalates into the Salem witch trials and the girls find the blood of innocent lives on their hands when the townspeople start executing the accused witches.

Why I chose to include this book:

I chose to include Wicked Girls because it is a story written completely in verse.