Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer

 

    Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer, published in 2011, is a nonfiction work aimed at 7th grade + readers with a 1190 lexile level. The book tells the story of the Salem witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts during the years of 1692-1693.

    As the book opens, we are introduced to the cast of characters including the accused witches and the afflicted/accusers, illustrated on scratchboard by Schanzer.

(Schanzer, 2011, p. 6-7)

    After this, a brief background of Puritan beliefs and history is introduced, bringing the present of the book up to 1692 where the book shifts in language to be more of a narrative style. It then introduces key players and how the hysteria began inside Reverend Samuel Parris’s household. 

    Witches! follows the increasing accusations and fear by the town as people are accused of witchcraft, jailed, and then eventually brought to trial. All throughout this account, historical source notes are quoted throughout the text to put actual bits of recorded trial testimonies and records with the narrative. 

(Schanzer, 2011, p. 32-33)

    The book goes on to describe the verdicts of the accused and how many were convicted to a death sentence before the town began to come to its senses. The last chapters ask the reader to think about why these events were able to occur and what spurred them on. They then describe the aftermath of survivors and the accusers. “Every new explanation about the cause of the dread disease or the motives of the accusers has been debated over and over again by professional historians. Some of the most well-known ideas have been ruled out, but even so, plenty of questions and theories still remain,” (Schanzer, 2011, p. 109).

    End pages of the book include historic source notes, a bibliography, an extensive index, and an author’s note. The author does state in the note that some of the source note phrasing has been modernly updated and misspellings corrected, though source notes have the original text. Also in the author’s note, the art process is described with the scratchboard images used throughout the text. These are quite nicely paired with the information in the book and really give the book a great tone and feel.

(Schanzer, 2011, p. 72 & 84)

Non-fiction read-alikes and/or pairings:

• Fire and Brimstone: Salem Witch Trials by Virginia Loh-Hagan: The Salem witch trials are outlined in play format in this text to encourage students to act out the trial scenes together. Timelines, historical background, biographies, etc are included. A brief overview of the topic for a hands on approach. (5th grade +)

• The Salem Witch Trials: An Interactive History Adventure by Matt Doeden: Reluctant readers may enjoy this interactive option to choose your own path as you read through different characters being accused during the trials. (5th grade +)

• Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials by Marc Aronson: A retelling of the Salem witch trials told in narrative format. Appendix includes connecting the text to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. (7th grade +)

• The Salem Witch Trials by Kekla Magoon: Covering the events of the Salem witch trials, this text also digs into past history that lead up to the event and how the trials shaped society, politics, and science of the time. (7th grade +)

Fiction read-alikes:

• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare: Winner of the 1959 Newbery Medal, this novel follows a 16-year-old girl’s arrival to 1687 Connecticut as witch accusations begin flooding the town.  (5th grade +)

• A Break with Charity : A Story about the Salem Witch Trials by Ann Rinaldi: A young girl named Susannah finds herself caught up in a group of friends that’s mischief ends up leading to the Salem Witch Trials. She has to decide whether to keep playing along or to come forward with the truth, putting her family at risk. (7th grade +)

• Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials by Stephanie Hemphill: A novel told in verse from the perspective of 3 young accusers, this text shows how group mindsets can escalate events. (7th grade +)

• The Crucible by Arthur Miller: Fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials told as a play by the notable, American playwright Miller. (9th grade +)

More by Rosalyn Schanzer:

• George vs. George by Rosalyn Schanzer: A 2005 Orbis Picture Book Award Nominee, this book showcases both sides of the American Revolution featuring George Washington and Britain’s King George III. (4th grade +)

• What Darwin Saw: The Journey That Changed the World by Rosalyn Schanzer: Follows the journey of Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle in 1831 as he journals his observations of nature. (4th grade +)

• How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning by Rosalyn Schanzer: Narrative nonfiction on Benjamin Franklin’s famous lightning experiments. (2nd grade +)

The following stop-motion animation of Schanzer’s scratch board work process for the book's artwork can be seen on YouTube along with a brief overview of the book:

    The author has a list of resources on her website page for the book that includes lesson plans to connect the text with Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Teachers or educators may find the following resources helpful in connecting the history of the Salem witch trials with books of the subject in the classroom. 

• Hanover College. (2018). Hanover historical texts collection: Seventeenth-century colonial American history. http://history.hanover.edu/project.php

• History.com Editors. (2020). Salem witch trials. History. https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/salem-witch-trials

• Linder, D. O. (2020). Famous trials: Salem witchcraft trials (1692). UMKC School of Law. https://famous-trials.com/salem

• Mather, Cotton. (1862). The wonders of the invisible world: Being an account of the tryals of several witches. J.R. Smith. https://archive.org/details/wondersofinvisib00mathuoft/page/n7/mode/2up

    Witches! was a 2012 Sibert Medal Nominee, a 2012 YALSA Award Nominee for Excellence in Nonfiction, and won the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal for Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2011. It was also named a 2012 notable book by the American Library Association and the National Council for the Social Studies.

References

Schanzer, R. (2011). Witches!: The absolutely true tale of disaster in Salem. National Geographic Society.