From: Gibson, Robin <rgibson>
Date: Wed, 09 Aug 95 14:34:52 CST

I didn't realize it until thinking over the different parents we are
     presented with in these books -- but both Claire and Julia are
     stepmothers. While Julia isn't as completely wonderful as Claire,
     she's not so bad for a stepmom.
     
     I really like what you had to say about Kate and Laura's relationship
     Katie. I think part of Laura's growing up is represented in her
     referring to her mother as "Kate" most of the time, rather than Mom. I
     really loved the fact that she found her mother so beautiful, as she
     herself is experiencing changes in her own body.
     
     As far as Miryam and Winter; I have mixed feelings about them. Sorry
     seemed to want to apologize for them, but Laura seems to like them,
     and doesn't see much to apologize for. I was a bit astounded at the
     description of Sorry and his room on the night that Laura runs to him
     for help--at first I didn't understand why a mother would let her son
     dress/behave/decorate in such a way. Then I came to see more, and it
     seemed to me that both Miryam and Winter wanted to help Sorry and to
     try to make up for their mistakes (they admitted they had definitely
     made mistakes). I think they saw helping Laura as a way to help Sorry
     too.
     
     All of things brings me round to another observation; these two books,
     in my opinion, seem to be appropriate for different reading/age
     levels. I thought that _The Changeover_ was much more a young
     adult/young teen type of book, but _The Haunting_ would be more
     accessible to younger readers. Is this how others saw them?
     
     Also, I agreed with the person who saw the particular culture of New
     Zealand as perhaps influencing Mahy and her views of witchcraft--this
     thought also occurred to me as I was reading and as I've been thinking
     about it. I don't know much about New Zealand and it's culture, but it
     seems plausible that the people might have a different view than
     Americans. Were witch trials held in New Zealand as they were in
     England and America?
     
     Also on the subject of New Zealand, I was confused by the school
     system labels -- Laura is a "fourth former" and Sorry is a "seventh
     former." I related this to being a freshman and a senior,
     respectively, in high school here. Is this about right? I was glad
     that Mahy addressed the age difference between the two at the end,
     because I was thinking all along that Sorry was a bit too old for
     Laura. (I really liked him, and don't mean to sound like a prude . . .
     just 18 and 14 is a pretty big difference, especially when it's the 14
     year old's first romantic experience!)
     
     Looking forward to hearing your opinions!
     
     Robin
     
     rgibson at ccmail.uwsa.edu
Received on Wed 09 Aug 1995 03:34:52 PM CDT