The Salem Witch Trials: An Unsolved Mystery from History
Grade 3-6–Yolen and her daughter outline the basic events that gripped this community while boxed text, drawn to look like pages from an investigator's notebook, add context. Smaller sidebars define some of the terms used. The book concludes with a presentation of some of the extant theories of what caused the girls' hysteria and the reactions of the other townspeople, with questions for readers, based on the text, that may support or attack each theory. Roth's graphite-and-watercolor illustrations, done in somber tones, convey the bleakness of the Colonial winter and the drama of the unfolding events. There have been a number of books for this audience covering the Salem witch trials, Edward Dolan's (Benchmark, 2001), Tamra Orr's (Blackbirch, 2004), and Stephen Currie's (KidHaven, 2002), among them. While these titles cover the facts more completely and may be better suited for reports, the investigative approach used here gives a different perspective and encourages readers to evaluate the evidence and draw their own conclusions.–Elaine Fort Weischedel, Millbury Public Library, MACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.