Tituba of Salem Village
Ann Petry Harper Trophy, 1964, 254 pp., $5.99
ISBN 0-66-440403-x


He went on beating her and went on shouting, "Say that you're a witch."
"Master, stop. What is it you want me to say?" she said distinctly.
"Say that you're a witch."
"Very well master. I am a witch."

Tituba is a strong and talented black slave who is sold to a minister's needy family. Now, she must take care of her sickly mistress, sly eight-year-old Abigail Wiliams, little frightened Betsey, and impossible Reverend Parris. While living in Salem Village, Tituba, Abigail, and Betsey meet a group of boundgirls who find out that Tituba can tell fortunes. The girls did not want to get into trouble by their masters, so they began throwing fits and blaming Tituba, saying she bewitched them. To find out if Tituba takes the blame for the girls, read Tituba of Salem Village.

This historical fiction book teaches you not to get involved with gossip and not to bury your mistakes with lies. Ann Petry adds excitement to the story by leaving the reader interested about how people in court reached their verdicts and believed spectral evidence. I would recommend this book to people interested in the Salem Witch Trials and who would enjoy a book with a great lesson and exciting plot.

well.. i thought this book was pretty good! i read this in s.s. and i thought it was really exciting and it wanted to get you to know tituba and the whole gang of girls.. this is a historical fiction book but it wont put you to sleep! you will probably like this.. because i did and i like the plot. the characters are so real and the whole storyline makes u interested in many things of the salem witch trials! exciting...and i didnt want to put it down! i wanted to find out about tituba and if she would ever stop being accused of a witch!

Tituba is the perfect historical fiction on the Salem Witch Trials. It is perfect for ages 10 and up. Ann Petry Makes the charecterscome to life with there real emotions.

Tituba

This book, published in the early sixties centers around a slave woman who during the Salem Witch Trials is tried as a witch. While the book itself is written in a fashion that made me wonder if I were reading something intended for young adults, it does hold water. The story is reasonably compelling and has enough intricacies of characters and betrayals to engage the reader. It telegraphs itself from a mile away, yes, that simplicity of form making it a story that doesn’t demand nor deceive.

Tituba comes across as not so much foolish but as trapped by her circumstances. She is the property of a family, lead by a reverend of stern character in charge of white children who know that they have power over their adult caretaker. The mistress of the house spends all of her time sick and therefore powerless so the role of caretaker without authority falls to Tituba. For a book set during slavery, the subject of personal freedom isn’t addressed here because that’s not what this book is about. It’s about a further removal of rights and personal power through the witch-hunts. Tituba, through a series of first seemingly innocent events and then gradually darker, is trapped to becoming a witch on trial. Only when she is accused of being a witch does it really grind home the trap that slavery has her in. She cannot flee, she barely has rights to speak up for herself and because of race, is already half-condemned. It becomes literally her slave workman skills that bring her “friends” who will testify on her behalf, give her value over the other women on trial who are merely seen as witches.

This book is an easy read, less than a couple of hours, closer to being like a short story in it’s simplistic form and intent. The adventure of the read is the twist ending. Being a slave saves Tituba so that she can return to slavery. A dark irony that strikes home when one begins comparing what was the greater evil and how one evil can save a person from another by enshrouding them. Here, slavery is a helper, unfortunately. Luckily, it is made clear by the force of witch-hunt story that this is not a book about slavery, pro or con. It is about a woman, a Black woman, who is a slave in a culture that persecutes all of its inhabitants in any way possible for being different or having new ideas. In the end, this book is about the cruelty of humans, in so many forms---bigotry, misogyny, racism, etc..

Four stars

Tituba of Salem Village was a good book. It taught me about history. This book showed me how the slaves would act and live. While i was reading it, I wanted to warn the characters, "Don't do it!" and "Be quite!" This book is mostly about a girl named Abigail, a preacher's niece, who is doing witchcraft. Then Tituba and other girls start getting accused of witchcraft. This has to do with history because it goes with the Salem Witch Trials. The part of the book that I disliked was the whole chapter about firewood. I believe the best part was when Tituba read the tarot cards for the girls.