THE SACRIFICE

How could so much evil exist in such a little town? It seems the devil has come to nearby Salem Village, and several young girls are accusing neighbors of being witches, with three women already convicted. This is not the best time for ten-year-old Abigail Faulkner to have been punished in the stocks for her willful behavior, or for her father to be having his fits again. Though Abigail’s grandfather, Andover’s minister, believes the Salem girls are acting, their performances pure sport, powerful people believe them, and when the girls are called to Andover to root out witches there, the madness continues. Duble does a superb job of showing how the hysteria develops and how innocent people were trapped. She vividly evokes the horrors of Salem Town Prison, with the cold, the lack of food and the rats sometimes killing people off before trial dates ever arrived. One of the best fictional accounts for young readers about the witch trials and how good people eventually fought back. Marc Aronson’s Witch-Hunt (2003) will provide additional background. (author’s note, suggestions for further reading) (Fiction. 10-14)