The Witches of Worm

The Witches of Worm falls into the Creepy category. The star of the book is a mean, creepy, disturbed girl. Hmmm. I sense a theme in my posts. And guess what? The star of the book I'm writing is also mean!

As you can see (or probably not) by the seal on the front, this book was a 1973 Newberry Honor Book. Very much deserved.

It's written by my all time favorite writer of creepy children's books - Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Ya gotta love that name  -Zilpha!

The amazing illustrations are by Alton Raible. He illustrated other Zilpha novels as well. And may I say, the illustrations in this book are pretty terrifying. But that certainly did not stop my 9-year old self from reading the book back in the 70's. If you are under the age of 12 and don't like scary pictures, do not keep reading. If you are over 12 and don't like scary pictures, get over it and keep reading!

I reread this book shortly after I started writing my own novel and now that I'm looking at it again, I can see how much it influenced my own writing. It really stayed with me and definitely gave me the creepity creeps.

The Worm of the title is not a worm but a cat who looked like a worm when he was a kitten.  He may be possessed or possibly belonged to a witch - . Jessica - the little girl who found him - thinks so. Frankly, I think they are both possessed and deserve each other. 

What makes this book creepy?

• Uh, clearly the illustrations
• Demented Jessica - she's got issues. She tries to kill her neighbor for goodness sakes!
• Worm - I'm a cat lover but even I would think twice about welcoming him into my home. (Oh who are you kidding Yng,  you'd not only welcome him, you'd move in to the shed so there'd be more room for him and the rest of the cats in the house!)

The Cat made me do it!

Jessica hears Worm's voice in her head (I hear cat voices too and they say "FEED ME!)
telling her to do bad things (Hmmm. Not a bad idea......) like getting a former friend in trouble, destroying another former friend's trumpet, lying to her therapist, mom, nosy neighbor -basically everyone - and then of course there is the aforementioned attempted murder! Yikes! Perhaps it is the cat that needs therapy or JAIL!

This is Worm. A face only a witch could love

But Yng, you ask why would I want to read a book about such a horrible person? Good question! Because she has a crummy mother and no father and has psychological problems and possibly the devil resides inside her cat. This kid needs pity not scorn!

Oh yeah - please folks - do not let this STORY discourage you from wanting to adopt a cat. Cats rock!








If they were going to make The Witches of Worm into a movie, I would hightail it out to Los Angeles to audition my cat, Alex for the part of Worm.

Alex the Worm

This is Alex doing her best to look like a worm. I told her the cat only looked like a worm when it was a kitten, but she is very literal.

My boyfriend, Richard also recommends her for the part of Worm. He's been saying she's a witch's cat ever since he met her. Wait a minute - is he saying I'm a witch!!!




What I love most about The Witches of Worm is its AMBIGUITY. Is the cat possessed or is Jessica mentally disturbed or both? We never really know and that is just fine with me. I'm all about leaving things to your own imagination. Life is not black and white and I prefer that books and movies not be either.

On the Creepy Scale, I am giving the story a Grubby the Grub, but I am giving the pictures a Petey the Centipede! I leave you now with another creepy picture from the novel.

Sleep well, my pretties!!!!!!