Witchcatcher

Jan and her father have just moved into Great-Uncle Thaddeus' old castle-like mansion. The mansion is isolated by woods and the nearest town of Mingo, is at least 25 miles away. Jen has left her friends and suburbs to now reside in a creepy, cold, old, stuffy castle. But Great-Uncle Thaddeus had a reputation throughout the town as being an eccentric collector - collection items from antique rugs to witch catchers. Ah, witch catchers - those beautiful glass blown orbs that twinkle in the sun and moon light. So beautiful - it's like they have a power of their own to draw you into them. . .

The new mansion where Jen and her father will be residing has a huge tower (I'd say bell tower, but it's not) that has captured her attention. The tower is calling to her - when she asks her dad to explore the tower he forbids it, citing that it's unstable and dangerous. Jen knows something is up there, and the runes on the door help prove her point.

When she sneaks up there she finds old musty books, drawings of a lost hopeless girl behind glass, and up at the top window a shiny glass sphere that calls to here. It's too pretty to leave up there and she'll keep it for her own. No one will have to know that she came up here against her dad's wishes. . .

When her father brings over a woman named Moura, Jen can't help but immediately hate the woman. There is something wrong with the woman, it's like she's bewitching her father. Her father introduces Moura to Jen and says that Moura is an antique collector looking for 1 thing in particular - a glass globe called a witch catcher. Instinctively Jen knows not to tell tell them about the globe she has. When her cat Tink runs down the stairs after a loud crash everyone runs up to Jen's room and sees the broken witch catcher. Moura pulls Jen aside and tells her she's been a foolish girl, that she's just unleashed a horrible demon and that now Jen is in terrible danger.

Well the horrible 'demon' turns out to be a faery about Jen's age who's been trapped by an evil witch, along with the rest of her family. Kieryn asks Jen to help her rescue her other family members and defeat the evil witch once and for all. You see Kieryn and her family were chased out of their home buy the evil witch and her warlock friend. But with the evil witch driving a wall between her and her father, Jen has more to fight for.

I really liked this book! After page 1 I was totally hooked and I knew it wouldn't be a let down. The book flowed so smoothly. It was like drinking your favorite beverage - went down smooth and made you happy :) I like how the author depicted the 3 aunties, they all dressed in rather odd clothing choices (stripped socks, red converse shoes, wild crazy dresses) and their hair was wild and had neon colors! Not your typical faery!

You're taken on an adventure with Jen as she learns to be more brave and fight for her family. When the old witch drove a wedge between Jen and her father I got so mad! I felt like jumping into the book and slapping the father and telling him to smarten up and not let some woman jump between him and his daughter. I've been in that experience twice - were my "step-dads" literally shoved themselves between me and my mother (while she did nothing) and I hated it. I'm still very bitter and mad about it - and I'm sorry if it feels like I'm venting. After reading that passage I made Vince swear that if we ever have kids, and I die to NOT let some old mean hag tell him how to treat our future kids/drive a wedge between them. I also told him, that he has to listen to them, and if they say "I don't like her" then it's off to the curb with her. He looked at me rather oddly and said I needn't worry about it. But you never know.

This was a wonderfully written adventure book - with just the right amount of magic to spice things up :)

Witch Catcher by Mary Downing Hahn. New York. (c) 2006