Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials by Stephanie Hemphill
Reading level: Young Adult Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Balzer + Bray; 1 edition (June 29, 2010) Book summary: A Printz Honor winner presents a fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials based on the real historical characters, told from the perspective of three young women living in Salem in 1692--Mercy Lewis, Margaret Walcott, and Ann Putnam Jr. My review: The power of cliques is a prevalent theme throughout Wicked Girls . In the male dominated Puritan society of 1692 a group of seven teen and preteen girls start out having fun by pretending to be 'Afflicted'. Fearful adults take notice and the girls suddenly realize they have power. By twitching and crying out "witch!" they wreak havoc on the townspeople. But once a lie is told another has to be told to cover up the first and so on--until things become disastrous. With their newfound power they gather to discuss their next moves and who will be singled out next. Unfortunately, the adults scared...