Historical fiction. It's not flashy; there are no spells or real time broadcasts of kids fighting kids. But it's relevant, even if it happened before there was a United States of America. In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, the common frustration is that it's a book full of details and the only real excitement happens in the last fifty or sixty pages. There is something to this argument, but don't admit this to your students. After all, they need to know all of said details in order to appreciate why the ending is so awesome.

The beginning of the book introduces a lot of characters at the same time. It's kind of hard to keep track of who they all are, and their role in the story. In addition, the Puritan way of life is totally foreign to most readers, so some background is often necessary before reading. While the title of the book is intriguing, we don't actually meet Hannah Tupper (The "Witch" of Blackbird Pond) until a good third of the way through the story. Your students might get restless. They're used to action, movement and cliffhangers, but this book doesn't have much of that. How can you keep them going? Show some video clips or read articles about witch trials before beginning the book so that your students are aware of the excitement to come.