Hocus Pocus and the All-New Sequel

It’s not really Halloween without viewing Disney’s “Hocus Pocus” a few times…It’s “gotta spell” on me! And, the book had much of the same effect. The first part is the “Hocus Pocus” story with skeptic Max Dennison, his ten-year-old sister Dani, and romantic interest Allison Watts throwing the town of Salem, Massachusetts, into turmoil by lighting the Black Flame Candle and bringing back to corporeal form the three-centuries-old Sanderson sisters: Winifred, Mary, and Sarah. The story is entertaining fun for movie fans and newbies of all ages with only a few differences for fun, but the one major detail, never included in the film, is intriguing: Who is Elizabeth Sanderson? This fascinating familial detail and final scene with The Spell Book would have been a great cliffhanger in the movie, but it did lead into the second part of the book, “the All-New Sequel,” and the main reason I picked up the book.Fast forward twenty-five years…Max, a high-school history teacher, and Allison, a lawyer, are married and have a daughter, Poppy, now a high-school senior. “Pops” knows the story about the Sanderson sisters and her parents’ belief in witches, ghosts, zombies, and magic, but she is skeptical, a family flaw, I guess. So, she is not happy about her parents change to their “no celebration” tradition by having a Halloween party and inviting staff and students. In Poppy’s frustration and naive arrogance, she suggests that her BFF Travis Reese and new friend Isabella Richards sneak up to the old Sanderson house and use Isabella’s “spirit game” for a bit of fun. Fun? Trouble! Isabella has a shocking confession, and the trio’s ill-advised antics cause the return of the Sanderson sisters and Max’s parents and her Aunt Dani to disappear. To remedy the situation the ghosts of Thackeray and Emily Binx appear and the youngest fourth Sanderson sister materializes with disturbing news: find the blood moonstone before her sisters, or at sunrise, they will once again be back and Poppy’s family lost in Hell forever. I enjoyed the fun penned by A.W. Jantha. I enjoyed the revisit. I enjoyed the drama, a bit of comedy, a bit intense, the myth revealed, the wonderful characters, return of some endearing non-corporeal friends, effective comeuppances, and an exciting conclusion. AND…the movie adaptation is to be released near Halloween 2022! New Halloween tradition!

This was the perfect book to end my Halloween season of reading. Of course I’m a huge fan of the movie. Always have been. And I know there was an original novelization out there somewhere, but I never read it. When I found out about this I was all over it. Bought it immediately. And it was worth every penny.The novelization itself is just that: a retelling of the movie. There really isn’t a whole lot more going on in the book that you don’t see in the movie except a bit more character development and the slight lead-in to the sequel itself. Other than that, if you’ve seen Hocus Pocus, you’ll know how the novelization pans out. And it’s told in a way that maintains some flair without being just a bland rehashing of the story. Plus I love the little drawings at the top of each chapter. Super cute.The sequel, sanctioned by Disney, I assume, is kind of awesome in its own right. While I’m not a big fan of the high school sweethearts story it works here and sets Poppy up as a character nicely. It’s also LGBTQ+ friendly, which is awesome, and has a good mix of POC as well (despite the main character being white, so take that for what you will).I liked how the story progressed and how adult Max and Allison were portrayed (super paranoid, somewhat to the point of eccentric), plus Jay plays a fairly prominent role, which surprised me. He was the blonde bully that harassed Max in the original. I’ll save you the details of how his character ended up for you to read it. Truly interesting. Plus some of that is revealed in the character development in the novelization. So no spoilers.The plot itself was both kitschy in the way Hocus Pocus was kitschy, but dark too. I think the sequel itself was darker than the original. There was a bit more at stake and the kids involved this time around had a lot more to lose. So I liked how everything was amplified but still kept a little light. This definitely wasn’t a story pandering to kids, either. It’s firmly YA and it doesn’t talk down to its readers. For a hybrid story that (I imagine) is supposed to go either way (younger kids or older teens) like the original, that can be a tough line to teeter on. But Jantha was successful with it.HOCUS POCUS the movie is a yearly watch and I have no doubt this book will be a yearly read now. I hope Disney does something with the sequel that’s here. I’d love to see it on screen. Plus it would bring back all the original characters, even Max, Allison, and Dani because it’s supposed to be 25 years later so IT WORKS. Let’s get on this, shall we?5

First off love this book, love this movie! So product wise this book is amazing! Which is the reason I am giving it a 5. I do wish however I could review the shipping/ handling separate from the product itself. The shipping of this product is frankly embarrassing. Like you asked your toddler to ship it embarrassing - and supposedly it is Amazon who is shipping this. They sent the book in a bag… This is a BRAND NEW hardcover edition and they shipped it in a tiny bag! The bag (literally) just barely fits the book, just. What kind of shipping standard is this? Are there children working in the shipping department? Because I could only excuse the actions of an ignorant child for the quality of the shipping I received. Just wasteful. Wasteful of a perfectly good product (prior to shipping), as well as my time and money. Yes my money, as I will now need to drive and spend gas money to return this and get an “exchange”, but now it’s not an exchange. No - an exchange implies that the value of the swap is amiable or even between parties. Now I will have to spend more than before because of a fully grown, common sense stunted adult child that works in shipping. If you won’t show the customer respect for their time and money by using common sense, then at least show some for yourself. This way you don’t go through life looking completely ignorant to everyone around you. Beyond frustrating.

Simplesmente apaixonado!!! O livro é lindo e maravilhoso!

If you like the movie, you will love the book!The first half is the same as the movie with slight variations, and so far the second part is great!It's a must have for Hocus Pocus lovers!

Como fan de la película, moría por tener mi ejemplar en pasta dura y en su idioma original. La verdad que fue una ganga.

Adorei o livro

After watching this movie, I had to read this one. There is so much in thos book that was not shown in the movie. You will love it.Delivery was amazing, books corner were not folded so that was a wao.