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Stanley Family #1
The Headless Cupid
When the four Stanley children meet Amanda, their new stepsister, they're amazed to learn that she studied witchcraft. They're stunned to see her dressed in a strange costume, carrying a pet crow, and surrounded by a pile of books about the supernatural.It's not long before Amanda promises to give witchcraft lessons to David, Janie, and the twins. But that's when strange things start happening in their old house. David suspects Amanda of causing mischief, until they learn that the house really was haunted a long time ago.
Legend has it that a ghost cut the head off a wooden cupid on the stairway. Has the ghost returned to strike again?
Legend has it that a ghost cut the head off a wooden cupid on the stairway. Has the ghost returned to strike again?
208 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1971
43 people are currently reading
2592 people want to read
About the author
Zilpha Keatley Snyder
82 books454 followersZilpha Keatley Snyder was an American author of books for children and young adults. Three of Snyder's works were named Newbery Honor books: The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid and The Witches of Worm. She was most famous for writing adventure stories and fantasies.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 265 reviews
January 23, 2022
When I discovered Shirley Jackson's work, a few years back, I had the unique experience of wanting to find her ghost somewhere and coax her back to my house for visits.
Let me clarify: I did not wish to raise her from the dead and sit with her, and learn from her (a natural feeling I have, with several beloved authors). No, more specifically: I wanted to hang out with her ghost.
Was this because Shirley Jackson's work leaned toward the supernatural? I don't know. Probably.
All I know is that I am in that same weird position again. Now I'm hoping Zilpha Keatley Snyder's ghost shows up, too. I want to hang out with her ghost.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder was an American writer who had an almost inexhaustible writing career. Seriously, this woman must have ignored every human being around her, as she cranked out novel after novel after novel. All the photos I have found of her depict an exceptionally thin woman as well, and I wonder if she ever wasted time on meals, either.
She was incredibly prolific, yet I managed to miss all of her middle grades and YA books, at least when I was the age that I would have sought her reads.
Well, I've discovered them now. And, I promise, I'm enjoying them as much as my 13-year-old.
Ms. Snyder has an unusual habit of writing children as more mature than their chronological ages, and this is a trait that typically drives me insane. I can't stand it when writers get children's dialogue wrong, and I can't stand it when they attribute a maturity or a wisdom to them that just doesn't match their age.
And yet, what she does works. I don't know how, it just does.
Interestingly, she almost always features an 11-year-old somewhere in her stories, and she wrote, once, that her students “had given me a deep appreciation of the gifts and graces that are specific to individuals with 10 or 11 years of experience as human beings. It is, I think, a magical time – when so much has been learned, but not yet enough to entirely extinguish the magical reach and freedom of early childhood.”
Personally, I think Ms. Snyder imbues just a little too much maturity in her fictional kids than is entirely accurate to their ages, and it's interesting to me that it is not my 11-year-old who is invested in these stories yet, but my 13-year-old. Further evidence to support my suspicions.
But, wow, did she understand human psychology, and did she understand kids! Add a little hint of the supernatural and WHAM-O: she achieved the magic formula for turning pages.
This particular middle grades book, published in 1971, introduced my daughter and me to the Snyder family and their potentially creepy new home that may or may not house a poltergeist.
(But no poltergeist is as scary as an unhappy daughter with a new step-family).
Let me clarify: I did not wish to raise her from the dead and sit with her, and learn from her (a natural feeling I have, with several beloved authors). No, more specifically: I wanted to hang out with her ghost.
Was this because Shirley Jackson's work leaned toward the supernatural? I don't know. Probably.
All I know is that I am in that same weird position again. Now I'm hoping Zilpha Keatley Snyder's ghost shows up, too. I want to hang out with her ghost.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder was an American writer who had an almost inexhaustible writing career. Seriously, this woman must have ignored every human being around her, as she cranked out novel after novel after novel. All the photos I have found of her depict an exceptionally thin woman as well, and I wonder if she ever wasted time on meals, either.
She was incredibly prolific, yet I managed to miss all of her middle grades and YA books, at least when I was the age that I would have sought her reads.
Well, I've discovered them now. And, I promise, I'm enjoying them as much as my 13-year-old.
Ms. Snyder has an unusual habit of writing children as more mature than their chronological ages, and this is a trait that typically drives me insane. I can't stand it when writers get children's dialogue wrong, and I can't stand it when they attribute a maturity or a wisdom to them that just doesn't match their age.
And yet, what she does works. I don't know how, it just does.
Interestingly, she almost always features an 11-year-old somewhere in her stories, and she wrote, once, that her students “had given me a deep appreciation of the gifts and graces that are specific to individuals with 10 or 11 years of experience as human beings. It is, I think, a magical time – when so much has been learned, but not yet enough to entirely extinguish the magical reach and freedom of early childhood.”
Personally, I think Ms. Snyder imbues just a little too much maturity in her fictional kids than is entirely accurate to their ages, and it's interesting to me that it is not my 11-year-old who is invested in these stories yet, but my 13-year-old. Further evidence to support my suspicions.
But, wow, did she understand human psychology, and did she understand kids! Add a little hint of the supernatural and WHAM-O: she achieved the magic formula for turning pages.
This particular middle grades book, published in 1971, introduced my daughter and me to the Snyder family and their potentially creepy new home that may or may not house a poltergeist.
(But no poltergeist is as scary as an unhappy daughter with a new step-family).
October 1, 2021
This is a Lemony Snicket-recommended book. I overheard him and his neighbor discussing it in Poison for Breakfast. After I figured out its title and author, I became even more interested because I’d loved The Velvet Room as a child.
This book, too, is one I would’ve read and enjoyed as an adolescent, and I’m not positive I hadn’t, as its resolution seemed vaguely familiar. In that time period (early 70's) I read so many books from the library, I can’t remember them all. Master Snicket says this book was recommended to him by a “so trustworthy and so interesting” librarian, which also describes the way some readers feel about some writers.
This book, too, is one I would’ve read and enjoyed as an adolescent, and I’m not positive I hadn’t, as its resolution seemed vaguely familiar. In that time period (early 70's) I read so many books from the library, I can’t remember them all. Master Snicket says this book was recommended to him by a “so trustworthy and so interesting” librarian, which also describes the way some readers feel about some writers.
Read
April 24, 2008I was 12 when I first picked up this book, I had just move hundreds of miles away from my home to a new school new step family and knew nobody. Honestly I only desided to read it because the two main characters were David and Amanda. David and Amanda were the names of 2 cousins I missed very much.
But after that it was the story that carried it, it was the very first book I read completely and then read again. I fell in love with the characters as well as the author. At the time 1989 I could only get my hands on this one and the next in the series (The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case) So I had to deal with reading each and every one of this authors other titles I could find at my schools and the local public library. Over the years I have looked at different libraries and found a few, but over the last 2 years I have discovered the internet and I no long have any limits to which ones I can get and read. I have bought the ones I read and loved so long ago. I have read so many more of her books, I'm 33 year old adult married with kids, who collects every single one of her books, seeing me reading title after title of books written for 12 years olds. What can I say other then it is a piece of my childhood I don't want forgotten.
But after that it was the story that carried it, it was the very first book I read completely and then read again. I fell in love with the characters as well as the author. At the time 1989 I could only get my hands on this one and the next in the series (The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case) So I had to deal with reading each and every one of this authors other titles I could find at my schools and the local public library. Over the years I have looked at different libraries and found a few, but over the last 2 years I have discovered the internet and I no long have any limits to which ones I can get and read. I have bought the ones I read and loved so long ago. I have read so many more of her books, I'm 33 year old adult married with kids, who collects every single one of her books, seeing me reading title after title of books written for 12 years olds. What can I say other then it is a piece of my childhood I don't want forgotten.
September 4, 2023
9/3/23 addendum: I just finished re-reading this as a bedtime book with my daughter. I remember reading this when I was in fourth-grade, and my daughter just recently started back to school as a fourth-grader. She wasn't sure about this to begin with, but as we kept reading it, she really got into it. It may be a little dated, but it didn't seem to affect her enjoyment.
I remember seeing “Poltergeist” in the theater when I was ten, and it terrified me. I especially recall the scene in which the guy starts ripping his own face off. I think I screamed at the top of my lungs through that entire scene, covering my eyes with my hands but peeking every second or two to see if it ended. My sister, 6, was also screaming and wailing.
(Funny story: my sister was a blubbering mess of tears by the end of the movie, which elicited a lot of disapproving and horrible stares toward my mom from other movie patrons. She was kind of mortified, because she hadn’t wanted to see it, or bring the kids, in the first place, but we were with relatives visiting in town who had wanted to see it, so she reluctantly agreed. Anyway, walking out of the theater, my sister---tears miraculously dried---excitedly screamed, “That was awesome! I wanna see it again!” Which pretty much speaks to the power of a good scary movie. I’ve loved horror movies ever since, myself.)
There is a long history of classical literature involving angry ghosts, haunted houses, and children, starting with some of Aesop’s Fables to Henry James’s “Turn of the Screw” to Stephen King’s “The Shining”. Many childrens’ and young adult authors have found fertile ground with haunted house/poltergeist stories, because children (some, at least) love a good scare.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s “The Headless Cupid” was written in 1971, but I would hazard a guess that it gained a resurgence in popularity around 1982, which is when “Poltergeist” came out in theaters. I’m fairly certain that was about the time I read it.
Reading it again, for the first time in 38 years, is a bit weird. I may have grown older and matured somewhat, experienced a lot of things which have shaped a worldview vastly different from my 10-year-old self, but there’s still a part of me that got a goosebumpy thrill after reading it.
Snyder is a wonderful writer, regardless of genre or age-group, but her story is definitely targeted to children in the 10-13 age group, what some call “tweeners”. Not that people in their 40s can’t enjoy it.
The story is centered around David Stanley, the eldest of four children, who, along with a new stepmom and a new old house out in the country, has also inherited a new older stepsister. Amanda’s not that much older---she’s 12 and David’s 11---but she seems much older and wiser based on the fact that she lived in the city and has a certain inexplicable demeanor about her.
She’s kind of quiet, always sequestered in her own private bedroom for hours a day, and she doesn’t seem to enjoy the pleasures of living in the large old estate. Eventually, though, she starts to open up to David, who discovers that she is fascinated with the occult and the supernatural. When weird things start happening around the house, David and Amanda play detective and discover that the house they currently live in was once considered haunted.
Is the ghost that once haunted the place back? Or is there something else going on? Amanda is sure that it is a real poltergeist, but David has a suspicion that it’s something a little less supernatural.
To say more would be spoilers, of course.
“The Headless Cupid” is as fun to read now as it was 38 years ago. Snyder also supposedly wrote a few sequels starring the Stanley kids. It might be fun to check those out, too.
I remember seeing “Poltergeist” in the theater when I was ten, and it terrified me. I especially recall the scene in which the guy starts ripping his own face off. I think I screamed at the top of my lungs through that entire scene, covering my eyes with my hands but peeking every second or two to see if it ended. My sister, 6, was also screaming and wailing.
(Funny story: my sister was a blubbering mess of tears by the end of the movie, which elicited a lot of disapproving and horrible stares toward my mom from other movie patrons. She was kind of mortified, because she hadn’t wanted to see it, or bring the kids, in the first place, but we were with relatives visiting in town who had wanted to see it, so she reluctantly agreed. Anyway, walking out of the theater, my sister---tears miraculously dried---excitedly screamed, “That was awesome! I wanna see it again!” Which pretty much speaks to the power of a good scary movie. I’ve loved horror movies ever since, myself.)
There is a long history of classical literature involving angry ghosts, haunted houses, and children, starting with some of Aesop’s Fables to Henry James’s “Turn of the Screw” to Stephen King’s “The Shining”. Many childrens’ and young adult authors have found fertile ground with haunted house/poltergeist stories, because children (some, at least) love a good scare.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s “The Headless Cupid” was written in 1971, but I would hazard a guess that it gained a resurgence in popularity around 1982, which is when “Poltergeist” came out in theaters. I’m fairly certain that was about the time I read it.
Reading it again, for the first time in 38 years, is a bit weird. I may have grown older and matured somewhat, experienced a lot of things which have shaped a worldview vastly different from my 10-year-old self, but there’s still a part of me that got a goosebumpy thrill after reading it.
Snyder is a wonderful writer, regardless of genre or age-group, but her story is definitely targeted to children in the 10-13 age group, what some call “tweeners”. Not that people in their 40s can’t enjoy it.
The story is centered around David Stanley, the eldest of four children, who, along with a new stepmom and a new old house out in the country, has also inherited a new older stepsister. Amanda’s not that much older---she’s 12 and David’s 11---but she seems much older and wiser based on the fact that she lived in the city and has a certain inexplicable demeanor about her.
She’s kind of quiet, always sequestered in her own private bedroom for hours a day, and she doesn’t seem to enjoy the pleasures of living in the large old estate. Eventually, though, she starts to open up to David, who discovers that she is fascinated with the occult and the supernatural. When weird things start happening around the house, David and Amanda play detective and discover that the house they currently live in was once considered haunted.
Is the ghost that once haunted the place back? Or is there something else going on? Amanda is sure that it is a real poltergeist, but David has a suspicion that it’s something a little less supernatural.
To say more would be spoilers, of course.
“The Headless Cupid” is as fun to read now as it was 38 years ago. Snyder also supposedly wrote a few sequels starring the Stanley kids. It might be fun to check those out, too.
December 9, 2021
The four Stanley children - David, Janie, Esther and Blair - are fascinated by their new stepsister Amanda in The Headless Cupid, drawn by her claims to be a practitioner of the occult. When Amanda offers to teach the children about the supernatural world, the “ordeals” she arranges to test them seem mostly aimed at antagonizing her own mother Molly, whom she blames for her parents’ divorce. But when David and Amanda discover that their house was once believed to have a poltergeist, and Amanda holds a seance to contact the ghost, a series of frightening incidents occur...
The first in a series of titles about the Stanley children (continuing with: The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case , Blair's Nightmare , and Janie's Private Eyes ), this charming family drama is quite similar to The Egypt Game , in the sense that events which at first appear to be supernatural, are later discovered to be the result of more mundane human agency. Snyder's second novel to be named a Newbery Honor Book, The Headless Cupid is an engaging, suspenseful mystery for young readers, and showcases the author's sensitive appreciation of the subtleties of childhood experience...
The first in a series of titles about the Stanley children (continuing with: The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case , Blair's Nightmare , and Janie's Private Eyes ), this charming family drama is quite similar to The Egypt Game , in the sense that events which at first appear to be supernatural, are later discovered to be the result of more mundane human agency. Snyder's second novel to be named a Newbery Honor Book, The Headless Cupid is an engaging, suspenseful mystery for young readers, and showcases the author's sensitive appreciation of the subtleties of childhood experience...
November 22, 2018
I hadn't read this book in a hundred years, and suddenly thought to read it aloud to the kids! They loved it, and got really into figuring out if there was a poltergeist or if Amanda was just playing pranks. Spooky without being too scary, even for my 6yo.
August 18, 2015
The Headless Cupid exists in the same eerie world as Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Witch books Witch's Sister and The Ghost Next Door or Lois Duncan's Summer of Fear (The Children of Green Knowe has this flavor as well, only more gothic and less suspenseful). Snyder was one of the masters of the craft of children's literature; The Headless Cupid continues to hold up really well. It's deliciously slow, and like the best suspense and ghost stories, tricky. She uses David, her main character, and his thoughts and beliefs to trick us into thinking things are one way... and then turns the tables on us in a most extraordinarily wonderful way. I never need blood and gore to make my spine tingle - The Headless Cupid is perfect that way.
June 3, 2012
One of the rare books that I loved as a kid that still holds up upon reading as an adult. David's new step-mom has a daughter, Amanda, who is quite taken with the occult and also not terribly pleased with being moved to the country to live with her new family. Amanda decides to make the kids her "neophytes" and initiate them into magic and spells. However, a real supernatural occurrence is more than she, or anyone, bargained for.
I never knew when I was a kid that this was the first in a series about the Stanley family. Now, I've acquired them all and am excited to read them.
I never knew when I was a kid that this was the first in a series about the Stanley family. Now, I've acquired them all and am excited to read them.
June 25, 2020
I read many Zilpha Keatley Snyder stories in my youth. The Greensky books were life-changing for me, but I also really loved The Changeling. I never did read The Headless Cupid, however—until now.
The pacing is very leisurely. We meet good-hearted David and his three younger siblings, who are all distinct, charming personalities. We learn that David’s mother died some time ago, that his dad remarried and now they’ve moved to a huge old house out in the country, and that his stepmother’s daughter Amanda is coming to live with them.
She arrives, and she’s an angry mess, but David and younger kids don’t really care, because she’s into the supernatural, has a pet crow, and is training to be a witch, and they’re intrigued. She’s high handed and obnoxious with them, and it just kind of rolls right off them. She tries to lord it over them, and they … just enjoy it.
I don’t know how I would have felt about Amanda if I had been reading the story as a kid. As an adult, I didn’t like her very much. I was offended on behalf of David and the others, and as a parent, I could only think what a trial she’d be.
But she *is* imaginative (even if her first game with the others, slaves and slave driver, just would NOT fly in the present world). And you end up feeling a little sorry for her—though she’d hate that--because she’s always being shown up in small ways by the others (they get along better with her pets than she does, they know more about reptiles and herbs than she does). Furthermore David and his siblings have each other, and David has a good relationship with both his own father and Amanda’s mother. Given those facts, it’s pretty amazing that Amanda is as friendly as she is, and I guess we can intuit from that how much she craves exactly what the other four are offering, even if she can’t admit that fact to herself. And ZKS manages to convey all that without being heavy-handed. It’s all there, but lightly.
I did kind of want more actual supernatural stuff. There was a lot of “is it or isn’t it?” much of which gets placed firmly in the “it isn’t” category, but there was some stuff that remained ambiguous, and I wanted more of that. David’s little brother Jamie has a kind of Charles Wallace vibe going on, and I wanted to see him do more communing with crows—or ghosts.
But for all that, it was a satisfying story—perceptive about human nature, and engaging in its small details.
The pacing is very leisurely. We meet good-hearted David and his three younger siblings, who are all distinct, charming personalities. We learn that David’s mother died some time ago, that his dad remarried and now they’ve moved to a huge old house out in the country, and that his stepmother’s daughter Amanda is coming to live with them.
She arrives, and she’s an angry mess, but David and younger kids don’t really care, because she’s into the supernatural, has a pet crow, and is training to be a witch, and they’re intrigued. She’s high handed and obnoxious with them, and it just kind of rolls right off them. She tries to lord it over them, and they … just enjoy it.
I don’t know how I would have felt about Amanda if I had been reading the story as a kid. As an adult, I didn’t like her very much. I was offended on behalf of David and the others, and as a parent, I could only think what a trial she’d be.
But she *is* imaginative (even if her first game with the others, slaves and slave driver, just would NOT fly in the present world). And you end up feeling a little sorry for her—though she’d hate that--because she’s always being shown up in small ways by the others (they get along better with her pets than she does, they know more about reptiles and herbs than she does). Furthermore David and his siblings have each other, and David has a good relationship with both his own father and Amanda’s mother. Given those facts, it’s pretty amazing that Amanda is as friendly as she is, and I guess we can intuit from that how much she craves exactly what the other four are offering, even if she can’t admit that fact to herself. And ZKS manages to convey all that without being heavy-handed. It’s all there, but lightly.
I did kind of want more actual supernatural stuff. There was a lot of “is it or isn’t it?” much of which gets placed firmly in the “it isn’t” category, but there was some stuff that remained ambiguous, and I wanted more of that. David’s little brother Jamie has a kind of Charles Wallace vibe going on, and I wanted to see him do more communing with crows—or ghosts.
But for all that, it was a satisfying story—perceptive about human nature, and engaging in its small details.
July 8, 2014
A recently blended family getting to know one another. A resentful girl with an interest in the occult. Amusing little kids. A big, old house.
I think what marks this out as a novel of the 70s is that the kids have all summer pretty much on their own. They're expected to appear for meals, but none of them has any playdates, or scheduled activities, nor do they have other kids around to play with. Just a long, empty summer to get into trouble. It's a fun book, less creepy than amusing in their efforts to become occult, and blend as a family.
Library copy.
I think what marks this out as a novel of the 70s is that the kids have all summer pretty much on their own. They're expected to appear for meals, but none of them has any playdates, or scheduled activities, nor do they have other kids around to play with. Just a long, empty summer to get into trouble. It's a fun book, less creepy than amusing in their efforts to become occult, and blend as a family.
Library copy.
November 1, 2018
4.5 A lot of negative reviews seem to focus on Amanda’s lack of likability. To me that just signals a lack of empathy in a person’s reading. Maybe even a little bit of wanting portrayals of children to be rose-tinted rather than realistic. I like reading about characters who make mistakes, characters who sometimes deal with their feelings poorly, etc, not only in middle grade books, but maybe especially in middle grade books. Being a kid is hard, and everything is more intense, there are a lot more firsts, therefore a lot fewer experiences to draw from when things happen.
I liked this book a lot, and look forward to reading more by Snyder, since I missed out on her as an equally imperfect kid.
I liked this book a lot, and look forward to reading more by Snyder, since I missed out on her as an equally imperfect kid.
May 20, 2014
I read this as a young girl and loved it and recently read it again to my children and loved it even more. My 15 year old son even commented on how he liked the way she did the characters--one of the big reasons I like it so much too. It is a great read-a-loud for many ages--I read it to all my kids. The three year old didn't get into it but from ages 6-15 they were spellbound.
December 19, 2007
Children deal with living in a haunted house. When I was a kid, this was an unbearably spooky book.
November 26, 2021
This is yet another Newbery list book that glorifies the occult. I'm a Christian and think this is not a good book for Christians to give to their children. I'm going to tell you in only a few words exactly what's in this book but this is totally a spoiler so it is your choice if you want to know the plot before you read it yourself.
The Headless Cupid is fiction but also is like a manual for learning about the occult including witchcraft, seances, hauntings and poltergeist activity. Is this what we want to fill our children's minds with?
This book is a Newbery Honor book from 1972, so it has been recommended to many children over the years and received a lot of attention. The writing is good enough. The child characters are well-developed and interesting. If I were judging this book on style and readability I'd give it four stars. However, since I'm a Christian I'm thinking about the content which should be alarming to any Christian who actually reads the Bible, including this passage from Deuteronomy 18:
"10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.” - Deuteronomy 18:10-14
For years now I've been wanting to read all the books on the Newbery list, both medal winners and honor books. Maybe the reason I'm led to do this is to discover the ungodly books the Newbery committee is glorifying, promoting, and recommending to children. Obviously our society has developed many more problems since the 1970's and Satan is hard at work infiltrating the thoughts and lives of our children. I think this book is a small part of the ongoing tragedy.
The Headless Cupid is fiction but also is like a manual for learning about the occult including witchcraft, seances, hauntings and poltergeist activity. Is this what we want to fill our children's minds with?
This book is a Newbery Honor book from 1972, so it has been recommended to many children over the years and received a lot of attention. The writing is good enough. The child characters are well-developed and interesting. If I were judging this book on style and readability I'd give it four stars. However, since I'm a Christian I'm thinking about the content which should be alarming to any Christian who actually reads the Bible, including this passage from Deuteronomy 18:
"10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.” - Deuteronomy 18:10-14
For years now I've been wanting to read all the books on the Newbery list, both medal winners and honor books. Maybe the reason I'm led to do this is to discover the ungodly books the Newbery committee is glorifying, promoting, and recommending to children. Obviously our society has developed many more problems since the 1970's and Satan is hard at work infiltrating the thoughts and lives of our children. I think this book is a small part of the ongoing tragedy.
September 14, 2015
I loved Zilpha Keatley Snyder as a child and I was curious to see if her books stand up. I'm also re-reading lots of my childhood favourites, and analyzing them and paying more attention to how stories are told.
This book stood up well. It was well written and had a great plot and was still creepy. I plan to read more of Zilpha's books. I loved them.
There's only one section of the book that didn't stand up and that's a section where the characters were playing slave drivers and slaves. I can't picture that happening in a modern day kid's book.
This book stood up well. It was well written and had a great plot and was still creepy. I plan to read more of Zilpha's books. I loved them.
There's only one section of the book that didn't stand up and that's a section where the characters were playing slave drivers and slaves. I can't picture that happening in a modern day kid's book.
June 3, 2020
As an adult reader, I didn't find as much mystery in this one as a child might; however, I am still stunned by Zilpha Keatley Snyder's uncanny ability to capture the minds and behavior of children. Her characters are so real. I especially loved talkative Janie, who gets physically ill after not talking for 24 hours and who loves being scared so much her "best day ever" was the day she almost got hit by a car.
This line amused me greatly: "The kids were running around the lawn in their bathing suits, and David was watering the garden and the kids at the same time."
This line amused me greatly: "The kids were running around the lawn in their bathing suits, and David was watering the garden and the kids at the same time."
February 27, 2012
At one of the library's booksales, I picked up a bunch of books that I liked or were super-popular when I was in elementary school. This is the first one I've actually read, and it was fun to indulge the nostalgia. While resolution at the end was a little too quick, I thought, the rest of it was still good!
October 13, 2022
This book was just as good as it was when I read it as a child!! The newly formed family described from a child’s perspective! What child has not held a séance? So glad I took the time to reread this old classic that I loved back then, shared with my own children, and now enjoyed as an adult!
April 23, 2014
Found this when I was looking for a book for Miles - I loved this book when I was a kid. Guess what, I still like it! Good writing, good messages, and a poltergeist storyline to hold interest.
January 3, 2023
I read this because I enjoyed the Egypt Game. I've been trying to read more children's literature so I can make better recommendations to our students. This one had me laughing out loud at times and also in such suspense that I had to keep turning the pages to see what really was happening. It definitely creeped me out a little. I'm pleased to see there are more books in this series - will definitely read them as I love the characters - especially the three youngest ones along for the ride.
May 3, 2019
Excellent.
April 7, 2024
Not quite 5 stars because of the ending. I have so many questions.
But if you’re looking for a quick read about the supernatural, magic, and poltergeists, this is the book for you.
But if you’re looking for a quick read about the supernatural, magic, and poltergeists, this is the book for you.
July 25, 2025
A slice of life ghost story
Widower Jeffrey A. Stanley, a Geology professor with four kids, David (11), Janie (6), Blair (4), and Esther (4), has recently married artist Molly (surname unknown), who has a daughter Amanda (12). To save money, the Stanley family has moved to an old, broken-down house in the country, a house with a name, as Janie excitedly points out: the Old Westerly House. Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Headless Cupid begins with Amanda's arrival at this old house. But actually, before that, we have an Introduction by Snyder, which contains this character sketch of David
The Headless Cupid is a haunted house story. There are, it turns out, stories that the Old Westerly House, back when it was just the Westerly House, was haunted by a poltergeist. The manifestations begin again. The mystery of what is causing them is one of the main plot questions of the book. Is there anything supernatural going on? The other big plot point is Amanda's coming to terms with her new life.
This was a slice of life book -- there is nothing very remarkable about the Stanley family or what happens to them. It was not bad, but ultimately didn't grab my interest. The Headless Cupid is the first in a series of four novels about the Stanley family. I don't intend to read any more of them.
Blog review.
Widower Jeffrey A. Stanley, a Geology professor with four kids, David (11), Janie (6), Blair (4), and Esther (4), has recently married artist Molly (surname unknown), who has a daughter Amanda (12). To save money, the Stanley family has moved to an old, broken-down house in the country, a house with a name, as Janie excitedly points out: the Old Westerly House. Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Headless Cupid begins with Amanda's arrival at this old house. But actually, before that, we have an Introduction by Snyder, which contains this character sketch of David
David, from whose point of view the story is told, is loosely based on a boy in one of the fifth-grade classes I taught—a boy who seemed to have a great deal of responsibility for his younger siblings, and who treated everyone with an amazingly mature kindness and sense of fair play.So David is the hero. Then there is this about Amanda
Amanda, the would-be witch in my story, is David’s newly acquired stepsister. She is a twelve-year-old who is angry about her parents’ divorce and even angrier about her mother’s remarriage into a family with four younger children.Amanda, not to put too fine a point on it, pretty much acts like a sociopath. Note that I said "acts like", not "is". Amanda, as Snyder points out, is going through some things and is not at this point in time quite her best self.
The Headless Cupid is a haunted house story. There are, it turns out, stories that the Old Westerly House, back when it was just the Westerly House, was haunted by a poltergeist. The manifestations begin again. The mystery of what is causing them is one of the main plot questions of the book. Is there anything supernatural going on? The other big plot point is Amanda's coming to terms with her new life.
This was a slice of life book -- there is nothing very remarkable about the Stanley family or what happens to them. It was not bad, but ultimately didn't grab my interest. The Headless Cupid is the first in a series of four novels about the Stanley family. I don't intend to read any more of them.
Blog review.
May 23, 2018
This is the book that sparked my interest in witchy and magical things, back when I was about 10 years old. Even though the book has really not much to do with magic, but is more about a troubled and angry teen having difficulty adjusting to her new living situation. (That is, it's no Harry Potter and none of the characters are the least bit magical ). Doesn't matter. This is the book that started it all for me. I've loved magical stuff ever since!
But back to The Headless Cupid: I first read this book when I was about 10 years old and loved it. I have so many memories of reading it, of being absolutely 100% absorbed in the story, the characters, the mystery...everything. When I recently discovered it at a library book sale, of course I snapped it up. I was excited to re-read it and see if it held up to my memories....and kind of afraid that I'd discover the magic gone upon revisiting it nearly 30 years later.
The great news is The Headless Cupid was every bit as awesome as I remembered. However, I did bring to it a different, more mature perspective. A deeper layer, if you will. One I wasn't really mature enough to catch the first time around. That is, I never realized just how troubled Amanda's character truly is: There's a whole undercurrent there, another subtle story, one beneath the main plot. One the author only hints at. But once you see it, it can't be unseen. This gave me an even greater appreciation for the story, for the writing.
But for the most part, the story I loved and remembered was still there in all its atmospheric and mysterious glory. The main plot, the characters, the whole slightly creepy vibe present throughout. And this made me very happy.
Beloved childhood favorites revisited so rarely retain most, if not all, of their magic. But this was a rare case when this is exactly what happened.
But back to The Headless Cupid: I first read this book when I was about 10 years old and loved it. I have so many memories of reading it, of being absolutely 100% absorbed in the story, the characters, the mystery...everything. When I recently discovered it at a library book sale, of course I snapped it up. I was excited to re-read it and see if it held up to my memories....and kind of afraid that I'd discover the magic gone upon revisiting it nearly 30 years later.
The great news is The Headless Cupid was every bit as awesome as I remembered. However, I did bring to it a different, more mature perspective. A deeper layer, if you will. One I wasn't really mature enough to catch the first time around. That is, I never realized just how troubled Amanda's character truly is: There's a whole undercurrent there, another subtle story, one beneath the main plot. One the author only hints at. But once you see it, it can't be unseen. This gave me an even greater appreciation for the story, for the writing.
But for the most part, the story I loved and remembered was still there in all its atmospheric and mysterious glory. The main plot, the characters, the whole slightly creepy vibe present throughout. And this made me very happy.
Beloved childhood favorites revisited so rarely retain most, if not all, of their magic. But this was a rare case when this is exactly what happened.
December 18, 2017
I really wasn’t sure what I was getting into with this book. Was it a paranormal thing, was it a cute story about children learning how to live together as a mixed family? Each description spun it differently, so I started the book confused as to what I was supposed to think about it. This book centers on David, the oldest of the Stanley children. Amanda comes to live with them, and he finds her interesting. She studies the occult and witchcraft and takes the Stanley children as her apprentices, to teach them how to do spells and read the future. The thing is, they may have awakened a ghost with their activities.
I enjoyed this book; Snyder perfectly encapsulates a lot of what it is to be young. The tense friendship that David and Amanda strike is incredibly realistic; she resents her mother for re-marrying, but she also likes having friends and other people to entertain, so they have a somewhat “frenemy” vibe. I also absolutely loved how the magic-teaching was handled in this book. I have had seances and done spells at ten years old that could be a direct copy of what was done in this book, which was just perfect. However, this all provides a backdrop for exploring issues surrounding divorce and re-marriage: learning to live in a new place, accepting that your parents are no longer together, being a sibling to kids you haven’t met before, etc. Amanda is incredibly confused and hurt by her mother’s remarriage, so she works it out through these magical activities. This would be a great book to give to a fanciful child who’s having some issues dealing with a separation.
However, the story isn’t overly heavy and laden with emotional trauma. It’s fun and whimsical and has some great paranormal stuff going on with a possible haunting. I like that it toes the line between paranormal and realistic, not really leaning in either direction. This is well worth its Newbery Honor and I highly recommend it.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
I enjoyed this book; Snyder perfectly encapsulates a lot of what it is to be young. The tense friendship that David and Amanda strike is incredibly realistic; she resents her mother for re-marrying, but she also likes having friends and other people to entertain, so they have a somewhat “frenemy” vibe. I also absolutely loved how the magic-teaching was handled in this book. I have had seances and done spells at ten years old that could be a direct copy of what was done in this book, which was just perfect. However, this all provides a backdrop for exploring issues surrounding divorce and re-marriage: learning to live in a new place, accepting that your parents are no longer together, being a sibling to kids you haven’t met before, etc. Amanda is incredibly confused and hurt by her mother’s remarriage, so she works it out through these magical activities. This would be a great book to give to a fanciful child who’s having some issues dealing with a separation.
However, the story isn’t overly heavy and laden with emotional trauma. It’s fun and whimsical and has some great paranormal stuff going on with a possible haunting. I like that it toes the line between paranormal and realistic, not really leaning in either direction. This is well worth its Newbery Honor and I highly recommend it.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
August 31, 2021
I hope folks in the Newbery discussion group, or other reviewers, can say more about this story to convince it's worthy of a Newbery Honor. To me it seemed almost like any other 'issues' novel, with the stepsister having trouble adapting to her new family. Her version of acting out is original, and there are some memorable details, but I didn't particularly enjoy my read and would not have when I was young, either.
Some bits that may prompt discussion, in our Children's Books group:
"Once, David had decided to make a project of watching Skip to find out about being cool. He had decided that being cool was never being embarrassed or nervous or bashful. It was also never taking anything, or anybody, very seriously. It was especially cool to be bored when other people were taking themselves seriously...."
"... he'd asked his mother if she believed in ghosts, and she'd said that she didn't disbelieve in anything that made the world more exciting."
Amanda says " I wasn't trying to get the weeding done. I was just practicing my powers. An important part of being an occult person is developing your power over other people."
Blair is an interesting character. Even though he's the first, sometimes the only, person to notice things, even David doesn't take him seriously enough. For example when he points out that Amanda is afraid of snakes, and David says, no, it's Molly who is.
The independence the children are given is shocking. They haven't been demonstrating responsibility, but still the 11 yo, the 12 yo, and three little children are left on their own all day one time, and several hours at least once else.
Some bits that may prompt discussion, in our Children's Books group:
"Once, David had decided to make a project of watching Skip to find out about being cool. He had decided that being cool was never being embarrassed or nervous or bashful. It was also never taking anything, or anybody, very seriously. It was especially cool to be bored when other people were taking themselves seriously...."
"... he'd asked his mother if she believed in ghosts, and she'd said that she didn't disbelieve in anything that made the world more exciting."
Amanda says " I wasn't trying to get the weeding done. I was just practicing my powers. An important part of being an occult person is developing your power over other people."
Blair is an interesting character. Even though he's the first, sometimes the only, person to notice things, even David doesn't take him seriously enough. For example when he points out that Amanda is afraid of snakes, and David says, no, it's Molly who is.
The independence the children are given is shocking. They haven't been demonstrating responsibility, but still the 11 yo, the 12 yo, and three little children are left on their own all day one time, and several hours at least once else.
August 12, 2009
One of my favorite books when I was younger, any fan of ghost stories or paranormal mysteries should really enjoy this.
David Stanley tries his hardest to play the ultimate big brother to his three very different young siblings. With their mother dead, and their father often away working and preparing for remarriage, he is the one they look up to. But David is about to have problems of his own, arriving in the form of his new stepsister, Amanda. And Amanda brings more than the usual problems. She is a self-styled practicer of the occult, and she brings with her a grumpy crow familiar, books of spells, and somewhat of an attitude.
Before long, David's three irrepressible siblings; mischievous know-it-all Janie, innocent Esther, and quiet, mysterious Blair, have convinced Amanda to give them a chance to get in on her world, despite her reluctance. David is pulled along too, fascinated in spite of himself by Amanda's interests. But when strange things begin to happen in David's old house, the four Stanley siblings, plus Amanda, may find themselves with a true ghost on their hands. And maybe none of them will be prepared to deal with it.
Sprinkled with hilarity and fun that take the worst of the creepiness out of this spooky novel (the siblings' attempts to pass Amanda's rites, as well as "capture" lizard familiars and hold a seance, have lots of funny moments), this is a perfect introduction to anyone who wants to try a ghost story. Under that, it's also the story of a family learning about each other. But the ending, which has a not-necessarily surprising twist, has a double twist that leaves everything up in the air...a perfect ending for a study of the paranormal.
David Stanley tries his hardest to play the ultimate big brother to his three very different young siblings. With their mother dead, and their father often away working and preparing for remarriage, he is the one they look up to. But David is about to have problems of his own, arriving in the form of his new stepsister, Amanda. And Amanda brings more than the usual problems. She is a self-styled practicer of the occult, and she brings with her a grumpy crow familiar, books of spells, and somewhat of an attitude.
Before long, David's three irrepressible siblings; mischievous know-it-all Janie, innocent Esther, and quiet, mysterious Blair, have convinced Amanda to give them a chance to get in on her world, despite her reluctance. David is pulled along too, fascinated in spite of himself by Amanda's interests. But when strange things begin to happen in David's old house, the four Stanley siblings, plus Amanda, may find themselves with a true ghost on their hands. And maybe none of them will be prepared to deal with it.
Sprinkled with hilarity and fun that take the worst of the creepiness out of this spooky novel (the siblings' attempts to pass Amanda's rites, as well as "capture" lizard familiars and hold a seance, have lots of funny moments), this is a perfect introduction to anyone who wants to try a ghost story. Under that, it's also the story of a family learning about each other. But the ending, which has a not-necessarily surprising twist, has a double twist that leaves everything up in the air...a perfect ending for a study of the paranormal.
October 4, 2017
I remember reading this when it first came out and loving it. I was nine then, and I read it at least three or four times. I even wrote a poem from the cupid's point of view! I shared that with the children's librarian and she loved it and they printed it in the library column of the local paper. (And she kept it and I never got it back, either.)
I just re-read the book for the first time in 41 years and I'm sorry to say, it didn't hold up for me. Not least, of course, because I've lost all interest in the poltergeist/supernatural/woo-woo thing, but aside from that--it's just one big ol' letdown. It's obvious what's going on, the explanation is beyond pedestrian, and then the ending with the box etc just seems patched on. The first part made me itch, and the second part made me impatient. I see that there's a whole Stanley Family Series, which probably explains a lot. I caught myself skimming, and that's never a good sign.
I just re-read the book for the first time in 41 years and I'm sorry to say, it didn't hold up for me. Not least, of course, because I've lost all interest in the poltergeist/supernatural/woo-woo thing, but aside from that--it's just one big ol' letdown. It's obvious what's going on, the explanation is beyond pedestrian, and then the ending with the box etc just seems patched on. The first part made me itch, and the second part made me impatient. I see that there's a whole Stanley Family Series, which probably explains a lot. I caught myself skimming, and that's never a good sign.
September 25, 2011
Finished my book on the train to work and realized the battery on my Kindle was dead, so I grabbed a book form my classroom library I hadn't read in a while. I've been recommending this to all my kids asking for scary stories even though I hadn't read it since I was their age. It's still great, although I'm not sure that the kids looking for a scary book will be very satisfied. The only scary parts are close to the end. The characters are so well-written, though.
March 28, 2012
I really enjoyed this book again. I hadn't read it since childhood. I do enjoy Z. Keatley Snyder a lot. The Egypt Game is another favorite by her. I know that there is another book with the same family that is set in Italy I think. I'm going to check that one out.
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