Good Reads / Community Library Notes
We Ride Upon Sticks
Quan Barry
Review by Priscilla Comen
We Ride Upon Sticks
Quan Barry
Review by Priscilla Comen
We Ride Upon Sticks, by Quan Barry, is the story of the Danvers High School Falcon Women’s field hockey team. At the start, Danvers is playing Masconomet and losing. Abby Putnam gives the team cheer to get enthusiasm from the players. The end score was either 8 – 1 or 9 –1, the officials didn’t agree. Mel Boucher is the goalie and the next day the score was 1 – 1 and they became an eleven man bevy of teen-age girls. Jen wraps Mel’s old sweat sock around his arm to import awesomeness. "Boy" Cory is the only boy on the team and he wears a kilt like everyone else. The next day he scores his first goal and an assist. His parents wait for him to outgrow this phase. Others on the team sign the magic book and wear the sock. They win more games. The sock is working.
Abby Putnam’s ancestors had claimed her neighbors were instruments of the devil. By 1692, nineteen people had been hanged and several died in jail. Twelve year old Ann Putnam Jr’s accusations were responsible for the deaths, including that of the church matriarch Rebecca Nurse. It was said to have been about land and influence. Thomas Putnam wanted Salem village to separate from wealthier Salem Town. Author Barry has done her research.
The following night there are two from Danvers high on the All Stars team, an unheard of event. 1989 is destined to be Danvers High’s year. At the party after the game everyone brings Mel a beer, depositing them at her feet.
After summer comes the Fall season and Double Sessions. Marge Butler is their coach and loves her team. They are instructed to run up sixty steps and down. They must do this ten times, 1200 steps all together. Abby went first, then "Girl" Cory, Jen Fiorenza, and all the freshman players. Between classes, Heather and Julie research witchcraft in the library. They learn they have to do bad things and keep track of them in a journal. The next day Jen is elected team captain. AJ, the center on the team, is the only black face in her class and thinks of turning her skin inside out. They play Lynn Classical and the score ends at 1 – 1. The following Thursday they beat the Beverly Panthers 8 – 0. They’d all done really bad things: Jen made out with boy friends of two girls, Julie put bleach in Home Ec. spray bottles, etc. They were soaring and going to hell.
Heather told the team that during the witch trials a group of girls claimed they were being tormented by spirits of local residents recruited by the devil. The only devils in Salem Village were the villagers themselves. They hadn’t forgiven their neighbors. The team beats Peabody 5 – 0. Coach Marge says to do whatever needs doing. The team holds a car wash and they muddy all the cars except the cop’s car. This was Bert’s and Ernie’s car. The team needs their friends. When Little Smitty’s pet rabbit dies, they hold a funeral, their first great gathering. They all dance, and the following Tuesday they beat Marblehead 10 – 2.
The night before the final game preceeding the play-offs, they gather at the homestead of Rebecca Nurse. She and her three sisters had been arrested and accused of witchcraft by the teen bad girls of that day. The girls claimed they had been pinched, poked with needles and led to infanticide. Rebecca Nurse was hanged on Gallows Hill in July 1692. They were buried here three hundred years ago. The team pulls out a Ouija board and asks questions.
In 1706 Ann Putnam Jr. stood up in Salem Village’s meeting house and asked for forgiveness from God and man. Three hundred years later Abby Putnam plays in the All Star game. Find out what the score was and how author Barry weaves the Salem witch trials into the Falcon High School games. She says the team was awesome and still is. It’s on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
Abby Putnam’s ancestors had claimed her neighbors were instruments of the devil. By 1692, nineteen people had been hanged and several died in jail. Twelve year old Ann Putnam Jr’s accusations were responsible for the deaths, including that of the church matriarch Rebecca Nurse. It was said to have been about land and influence. Thomas Putnam wanted Salem village to separate from wealthier Salem Town. Author Barry has done her research.
The following night there are two from Danvers high on the All Stars team, an unheard of event. 1989 is destined to be Danvers High’s year. At the party after the game everyone brings Mel a beer, depositing them at her feet.
After summer comes the Fall season and Double Sessions. Marge Butler is their coach and loves her team. They are instructed to run up sixty steps and down. They must do this ten times, 1200 steps all together. Abby went first, then "Girl" Cory, Jen Fiorenza, and all the freshman players. Between classes, Heather and Julie research witchcraft in the library. They learn they have to do bad things and keep track of them in a journal. The next day Jen is elected team captain. AJ, the center on the team, is the only black face in her class and thinks of turning her skin inside out. They play Lynn Classical and the score ends at 1 – 1. The following Thursday they beat the Beverly Panthers 8 – 0. They’d all done really bad things: Jen made out with boy friends of two girls, Julie put bleach in Home Ec. spray bottles, etc. They were soaring and going to hell.
Heather told the team that during the witch trials a group of girls claimed they were being tormented by spirits of local residents recruited by the devil. The only devils in Salem Village were the villagers themselves. They hadn’t forgiven their neighbors. The team beats Peabody 5 – 0. Coach Marge says to do whatever needs doing. The team holds a car wash and they muddy all the cars except the cop’s car. This was Bert’s and Ernie’s car. The team needs their friends. When Little Smitty’s pet rabbit dies, they hold a funeral, their first great gathering. They all dance, and the following Tuesday they beat Marblehead 10 – 2.
The night before the final game preceeding the play-offs, they gather at the homestead of Rebecca Nurse. She and her three sisters had been arrested and accused of witchcraft by the teen bad girls of that day. The girls claimed they had been pinched, poked with needles and led to infanticide. Rebecca Nurse was hanged on Gallows Hill in July 1692. They were buried here three hundred years ago. The team pulls out a Ouija board and asks questions.
In 1706 Ann Putnam Jr. stood up in Salem Village’s meeting house and asked for forgiveness from God and man. Three hundred years later Abby Putnam plays in the All Star game. Find out what the score was and how author Barry weaves the Salem witch trials into the Falcon High School games. She says the team was awesome and still is. It’s on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.