I Will Make You Disappear

I read this book when I was in 6th grade and I loved it. I saved it for years and in my 20's loaned it to my nieces to read and they lost it. So in my late 30's I found it online and I ordered it again. I was so excited I read it again. It was still good and I could see why I enjoyed is so much as a young girl in the 70's. I would recommend it to anyone who likes reading about witches, mysteries and suspense.

I just received this book in a "bookswap" and read it right away because I always like a good witchy book--but not the cute kind. This book surprised me by being far more spooky and just plain old strange than I thought it'd be. Unfortunately (for older kids and for me, an "old kid") it's written for the mid-level grades beginning with a precocious reader of 7 or 8 to probably ages 12-13. But I Will Make You Disappear should really appeal to grade school readers who enjoy ghosts, witches, and other paranormal books. Here's what's on the fly: "By the seven powers of the seven darknesses, I will make you disappear. Mandrake root and pure earth; I will make you disappear. All that is known to the darkness and the seven powers of the seven darknesses take you, take you, take you. The witch's room lay hidden under a shed behind the gloomy old house the Astins had rented for the summer. The room and the strange things they found in it were Clara's and Louise's secret--but it had been Clara's idea to buy a book on witchcraft and to learn the incantations. Then Clara wanted to see if she could use one of the spells to make the canary disappear. It looked so easy. All they needed were a few feathers, some earth, and the mandrake root that lay in one of the witch's jars beneath the shed....Although the game of witches is fun at first, it eventually leads Clara and Louise to such moments of fear that they wish they had never started it. This story of what happens when two girls delve into the occult is one for reading under the covers at night, a tale of mounting suspense and terror that cannot be put down until the very end." Well, I don't know about it being so suspenseful and terrifying that I couldn't put it down. I did actually put it down a few times, especially in the first half, which fails to captivate due to the disappointing two-dimensionality of the characters and the stiff dialogue. Things do pick up, though; and probably younger readers would find it quite fascinating from start to finish. The frightening handyman (who's called a drunk)who skulks around the place more than he should and who purposely terrifies all four of the children and shows violent tendencies will creep kids out, and so will the scary witch room below the shed and the wicked spells Clara chants. What I like best about this book is that it's not one of those books that looks like it's got bona fide magic in it but is really just a mystery with someone trying to make it look like there's a ghost haunting the place...books like that. They're ok, but not when one is in the mood for the supernatural. Does that canary actually disappear? You bet it does!