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    Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William Mckinley, And Me, Elizabeth
    Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William Mckinley, And Me, Elizabeth
    Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William Mckinley, And Me, Elizabeth
    Ebook124 pages1 hour

    Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William Mckinley, And Me, Elizabeth

    By E. L. Konigsburg

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    2017 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved classic Jennifer, Hecatate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth.

    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 eggs 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtheneum Books for Young Readers
    Release dateMay 24, 2011
    ISBN9781442439696
    Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William Mckinley, And Me, Elizabeth
    Author

    E. L. Konigsburg

    E.L. Konigsburg is the only author to have won the Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor 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 a Newbery Honor Book. Almost thirty years later she won the Newbery Medal once again for The View from Saturday. Among her other acclaimed books are Silent to the Bone, The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place, and The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World.

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    Reviews for Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William Mckinley, And Me, Elizabeth

    3.5/5

    20 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      "All year long she was a witch, disguised as a perfectly normal girl"By sally tarbox on 1 May 2018Format: PaperbackLast read this aged about 8!! But bits of it still come back almost 50 years on...Written in 1967, the story is narrated by lonely new-kid-in-town Elizabeth; walking to school on her own, she encounters the mysterious Jennifer sitting in a tree. A fellow student - and also something of an outsider- Jennifer has created a witch's persona for herself. The magic powers she attributes to herself allow her to look on, with a secret smile, as the 'in-crowd' (centred around Cynthia) do their thing.Under Jennifer's tutelage, Elizabeth begins training as a journeyman witch. Spells, potions, a toad, a cauldron... all played out against school and home life.Some kids' books don't work when you read them as an adult...but this is still a great read!
    • 3/5
      Is Elizabeth's new neighbor really a witch?

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      This story is about a lonely little girl, Elizabeth whose family just moved to an apartment before the start of school. The only girl she knows who lives nearby is not interested in being her friend. She meets an eccentric girl, Jennifer who promises to train her how to be a witch. Jennifer has different tasks Elizabeth has to do like not eating certain foods. Elizabeth is confused by Jennifer and really wants to be her friend, but Jennifer doesn't really know how to be a friend. At the end of the book, they become real friends. I thought the book was okay-
    • 5/5
      I read this book a long time ago, as a lonely little kid. I loved it so much. I was so jealous of the main characters, and their friendship.
    • 3/5
      This seems to be a slightly abridged version of "Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth"? It's not stated that Elizabeth is new to town and I recall no mention of William McKinley.

      It's a cute book and I recall it fondly from when I read it as a kid but reading it now I feel sorry for Cynthia, the girl who Elizabeth claims is so mean and so revels in all the tricks played on her: from this distance I see very little evidence of Cynthia's meanness, certainly not enough to justify what amounts closely to bullying from Jennifer and Elizabeth.

      Nor is Jennifer, the hero to Elizabeth's worship, overly admirable, though one does sense that she's hiding an even more desperate loneliness than Elizabeth. So it's a relief that their unhealthy relationship of most of the book seems to give way to a more equal and real friendship at the end.
    • 4/5
      About the development of the friendship between the new girl and a very smart and confident loner; both very interesting personalities. The story moves along slowly and what I perceived as aspects of theme were subtle. I wonder how widespread enjoyment of this story would be as it took a while to sink in.

      This was a very different kind of story from other young childrens' books that I've read. Not as much fun as the recently read Anastasia Krupnik. The interest it held seemed more a curiosity about what was to come rather than what was happening. Also of interest was that I liked the book more and more over the 24 hours after I finished it then I did at the moment I finished. If this were a more complex rating system I'd have to give this more thought but it definitely reached 3-1/2 stars so it gets rounded to 4.
    • 2/5
      I have adored several of Konigsburg's books, but this is not one of them. I remembered it fondly from my youth and picked it up at a Friends of the Library sale, but I found that it hasn't held up particularly well- at least to my eye.

      Jennifer is intriguing but never explained to my satisfaction. There is a paucity of any sort of description in the book- I was longing for more of a sense of place. The witchcraft training is fairly interesting, but the ending falls entirely flat and is unsatisfying in every single way.
    • 4/5
      Koningsburg writes with her usual flair and style creating some very unique and complex characters. The story is a bit of a slow pace particularly at the beginning but worth persevering through.
    • 3/5
      The title of this book is what grabbed me first. It was a very quick read, and quite funny. It reminded me a bit of Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Headless Cupid (highly recommended, btw), in that it's about children who have/pretend to have magic. Elizabeth is a very lonely girl who becomes an apprentice witch to Jennifer, who is also obviously in need of a friend. I thought the description of their relationship was realistic, and the book, written in the late 60s, is only slightly dated.
    • 4/5
      A nice little juvenile novel about a new kid at school who gets recruited to be an apprentice witch. Is Jennifer a real witch? Will the flying ointment really work? and How on earth does Jennifer walk perfectly straight with her eyes stuck to the sky? Elizabeth embraces Jennifer's oddness and along the way learns all of her little secrets. I also like the way she doesn't even mention Jennifer's skin color until halfway through the book.
    • 3/5
      A young girl, Elizabeth, at a new school becomes friends with another girl, Jennifer, who is a witch and promises to train Elizabeth as a witch as well. Jennifer, Elizabeth and Elizabeth's nemesis are described in a believable way, but are not easy to picture, the rest of the characters have very little description or development. The plot is interesting at the beginning but loses focus and has a twist to try and liven up the end. The setting is a small town with very little detail and in the early to mid-twentieth century . Overall this is an okay book, but the setting is a bit old for todays reader and while it could be included in a public library it does not seem to be a necessary addition to the collection.
    • 3/5
      Elizabeth has moved to a new town and is having trouble fitting in when she meets Jennifer- a self proclaimed witch. Jennifer promises to make Elizabeth into a witch too, if she follows certain practices. Elizabeth and Jennifer form a close, secret friendship, which is broken when Elizabeth lets their pet toad go rather than be put into flying ointment. When Elizabeth figures out a little bit more of Jennifer, Jennifer comes back and their friendship is renued on more normal terms.

    Book preview

    Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William Mckinley, And Me, Elizabeth - E. L. Konigsburg

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