A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials

Rating:
Summary: A book you'll not want to put down!
Review: A Break with Charity Gulliver books Harcourt Brace
Ann Renaldo 1992, 295 pp $6.95
ISBN 0-15-204682-8

"I peered through the naked trees and bushes toward the house. The girls had gone inside now, and, as always, I was standing alone in the bone numbing dusk." That was when Susanna English carefree life would change forever. More than anything Susanna wanted to be in that house with the circle of girls while Tituba a slave tells their futures. The leader of this circle (parsonage) was Ann Putnam, is about to set off a torrent of false accusations. These innocent people will be sent to prison and worse. Susanna starts to put pieces together she faces the most life changing choice she will ever have to make. She can choose to say nothing about these false accusing and let innocent people be named as witches or she can "break charity" with the circle of girls or risk having her family named as witches.
Ann Rinaldi is a great Author and has written 32 other books, which I have read 7 of them. Wolf by the Ears, A Break with Charity, The Blue Door, Keep Smiling through, Fighting Liberty, Time Enough for Drums, Quaintness with Darkness. Ann Rinaldi use to write for a newspaper, but now enjoys written historical fiction noels for teenagers and young adults.
This is a great book that you never want to put down. I would say this book is more for girls. This is a intence book, but I would recoment it to all teenage girls.

-By: Brooke Gilbert


Rating:
Summary: Wow, thats all I can say
Review: Everyone knows Salem is where they had the witch trials, but only a few know more than that and no one knows exactly what happened. This book presents all the facts we know as well as Ann's own theroy to what happened. Not only informative but entertaining and thrilling. Fan's of Ann will love it and this is a perfect 1st book to become a fan of hers.

Rating:
Summary: Ann Rinaldi at her best
Review: I consider "A Break with Charity" to be Ann Rinaldi at her best. She provides an insider's depiction of the Witch Trials using the perspective of a fourteen year old living in Salem, MA. The facts and characters are well-researched. Although the main character, Susanna English, is fictitious, she is a believable and sympathetic character. I heard alot about the witch trials as I grew up outside of Boston and was surprised to learn so much from Rinaldi's attentive detail. This book is intended for young adults and I, as a not so young adult, thoroughly enjoyed every word....it is a page turner that evokes many emotions.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT! :)
Review: I had to read this book for Battle of the Books and a novel project. I don't like to read, even though I do have all honors classes. But this book was incredibly good. By the middle of it, you almost can't put it down. I was able to finish it in only one day, which is a very rare occurance. The book taught me a lot about the Salem Witch Trials that I didn't know, even after visiting Boston and Salem for a school 3-day trip. It informs you from a different perspective, from someone who knew the truth about the hysteria. I loved this book and anyone who even thinks about getting the book should mmost definitely get it.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: I just finished reading this book and I must say I thought it was one of the best books I have ever read! Ann Rinaldi's tale of the Salem Witch Trials is delightful yet informing. She creates a great book through her setting and knowledge of what really happned in Salem in the year of 1692. I recomond this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

Rating:
Summary: This book combines both history and life's challenges.
Review: This book (A Break With Chairity) is an amzing look at not only the Salem Witch Trials, but also just the very flow of life. In the beginning of the book Susanna, teenage girl that wants to belong and have friends. She is disliked by most of the girls because of her family's wealth. After the hysteria surrounding witchcraft begins in Salem, Susanna no longer wants to belong to the circle of girls making accusations. She confronts Ann Putman the leader of the group about how it's unfair just to have people you disapprove of condemned to death on no basis, but her word. Ann then threatens Susanna's family. Both her parents are accused, but niether of them are exacuted. In this story (not historicly accurate) Susanna also helps to end the witch trials by testifying to the falsehood of the hysteria. The story shows how brutal Salem and hysteria could be, but is also very symbolic of amotions, challenges, power, and problems throughout time regarding justice.

Rating:
Summary: ~*Pink's Review*~
Review: This book takes place in Salem, long ago when they were having trials on the trials of alleged witches. Susanna being the heroic person she was, was havin a hard time with this because she was in some part of the witch things. Although she wasnt a witch, she knew some things that could help out with a major problem there. I recommend this book to those who like stories about witches or something like it.

Rating:
Summary: A Break With Charity By Ann Rinaldi
Review: This was my second Ann Rinaldi book, and I've become a fan for life. I've always been interested by the Salem Witch Trials, but this book was particularly fascinating because it was narrated by a girl around my age, so her reactions were the same as mine would be, and it made it so much easier to understand. It also talks about real historical figures, such as Ann Putnam, and girls that were involved in the Salem Witch Trials. Up to now, I have read nearly all of Ann Rinaldi's books (except for the newest one, "Or Give Me Death"), but this one is by far my favorie.