Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth

Title: Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth
Author: E.L. Konigsburg
ISBN: 0689300077

Plot Summary: Elizabeth lives alone with her mother in an apartment building, in a neighborhood full of fancy houses. She is ill-at-ease at home and at school, but soon meets a girl who changes her life: Jennifer, a self-described witch who dresses, speaks and acts differently from any other person Elizabeth has met. The two become friends, performing "spells" together and bonding in their respective loneliness. A falling-out over a pet toad drives them apart briefly, but when they manage to make amends, they find their friendship, although different, has changed for the better.


Critical Evaluation: There are several directions that this book could have explored which it did not, at least not to the extent that I would have liked. Most prominent among these is the issue of Jennifer's race, which is briefly touched on but never explored in depth as a possible reason for her social isolation. However, as this is a book intended for younger readers, its overall decision to make racial differences a non-issue may play into its larger message of friendship and tolerance. As an exploration of the friendships between younger girls, complete with playacting and imaginative imagery, this book is as entertaining to older readers as to younger ones.


Reader's Annotation: Elizabeth has trouble fitting in with her richer, often snobbier classmates, until she meets Jennifer, a self-styled witch with a vivid imagination. Although the girls' friendship is not without its ups and downs, they emerge from their conflicts with an even stronger bond than before.

About the Author: Elaine Lobl Konigsburg was born in New York in 1930, and grew up in various Pennsylvania small towns. After graduating from high school, she worked briefly as a bookkeeper to earn money for college; at this job, she met her future husband, David Konigsburg. She graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology with a degree in chemistry, and pursued graduate studies in the same subject at the University of Pittsburgh before her husband's work forced them to relocate to Florida, where they had three children. Konigsburg taught briefly as a science teacher before deciding to pursue writing children's books full-time. Her books have won numerous awards, including both the Newbery Honor and Newbery Medal, and she continues to write, her latest books having been published in 2007.

Genre: Fiction

Curriculum Ties: Folklore

Booktalking Ideas:

Hook: Jennifer is the only African-American girl in Elizabeth's class.
Approach: Character and plot-based.
Ideas for Booktalk: Jennifer's ethnicity is mentioned briefly in the book, but never referenced again. When she and Elizabeth have a falling-out, it is not because of racism, and we never see any overt acts of discrimination against Jennifer, but her "difference" from the other students may be an isolating factor. Discuss the extent to which this is a function of Jennifer's eccentricity and/or ethnicity. Does she turn to her odd behavior to help her cope more with being an outsider?

Hook: When Elizabeth first meets Jennifer, she is sitting in a tree.
Approach: Scene-based
Ideas for Booktalk: Discuss what we learn about the narrator and Jennifer in this scene, as well as what we do not learn. Jennifer's clothing, use of language, ideas about what witches do and don't do. Appears to be willing to make friends with Jennifer, but not without something in return, yet Elizabeth willingly complies in order to find out more about her. What does this say about Elizabeth and her social situation at school?

Reading Level/Interest Age: Middle School

Challenge Issues: Witchcraft.
This book has no particular viewpoint for or against religion in general, and is generally inoffensive in its content. However, some readers may object to the girls' playacting at being witches, even if nothing "magical" actually comes of their experiments. That said, by the book's end, Jennifer has abandoned her witch's demeanor, which indicates that it was more of a coping mechanism to her than a sign of deep-rooted spiritual  beliefs. The ultimate message of this book lies not in celebration of witchcraft, but in its examination of the effects of social isolation, friendship, conflict, and redemption.

Why I Chose This Book: I was a fan of E.L. Konigsburg's books as a child and adolescent, but somehow never got around to reading this one. Reading it as an adult reminded me of how vital a role imaginative play and fantasy played in my own childhood games, and how even imaginary worlds could have very real conflicts when two people with strong personalities were involved.