Embedded Files
E. L. Konigsburg
This is the story of two girls, both outsiders at school and their odd friendship. It is also a story of witches. Elizabeth, the titular me, has fairly recently moved to a new place and has had trouble fitting in. Jennifer on the other hand has lived there for some time and always been a bit of an outsider, perhaps because she is the only black child at school - this is never mentioned as a reason in the book and indeed her blackness has very little to do with Jennifer's character. A lovely case of incidental representation which is sadly not represented on the cover which features two white girls on the front. On the other hand Konigsburg's lovely internal illustrations do feature a black Jennifer and show character beautifully, I particularly liked the tilt of her head in the library one!
Her friendship with Elizabeth is, for much of the book a domineering and unequal one. Jennifer has the role of master witch and Elizabeth as apprentice is subjected to all sorts of odd diets and dictates as part of her training. This often feels uncomfortable and is meant to, it made me think quite a bit about CSE - Child Sexual Exploitation - while reading it as that also uses a desire to fit in to coerce behaviour. It could lead to some great discussions with a class about what health and unhealthy relationships can look like.
While Elizabeth is desperate to fit in with Jennifer to maintain her friendship Jennifer allows her to become increasingly comfortable not fitting in with others, particularly when attending the popular Cynthia's party. This quote from Konigsburg sums up much of the internal conflict the characters feelL
"The essential problems remain the same. the kids I write about are asking for the same things I wanted. They want two contradictory things. They want to be the same as everyone else, and they want to be different from everyone else.They want acceptance for both."
Elizabeth also shows inginuity in applying Jennifers various rules without explaining to her mother what she is doing and over the book their friendship develops and stops rotating entirely around their studies to be witches. A theme throughout the book is who the real you is, Jeniffer insists that she is a witch all the time and her apearance as a relatively normal girl is a costume but as the book progresses you suspect it might be the other way around.
The use of Macbeth is brilliant and ties into the plot beautifully, I can imagine as a child reading this wanting to read Macbeth soon after. One of the joys of intertextuality. Jenniffer in particular is a very well read character and the inquisitive nature of both is part of what draws them to witchcraft and each other. I enjoyed reading this, it made me feel about the right amount of uncomfortable.
Written by Jack.
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