How to Hang A Witch

When her father’s illness forces 15-year-old Samantha “Sam” Mather and her stepmother to move to Salem, Mass., her family’s connection to the witch trials makes Sam a target of the Descendants, girls whose ancestors were among the accused witches. After Sam befriends a charming young ghost named Elijah, she begins to piece together just how much of Salem’s past continues to haunt its present; forming a tentative truce with the Descendants may be the only way to break a 300-year-old curse. Mathers’s characters are strong and well-rounded, but her skill as an audiobook narrator pales in comparison. She carries the story along at a decent pace, but she never fully realizes the dramatic depth and nuances of her own material. When she comes alive is the very end of the book, in her the author’s note. There her personality shines through as she details her family history (including the fact that she is a descendant of the real Cotton Mather), how she came to write the book, and how she feels the witch trials are relevant today. The same enthusiasm and expressiveness would have raised this audiobook from serviceable to memorable. Ages 12–up. A Knopf hardcover. (July)