Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne

Aunt Maria was an incredible short story to read. Every time Mig and Chris described Aunt Maria and all her silly friends I laughed, they made them seem so stuck up and hilarious.  Wynne keeps the town secrets pretty secret throughout the first half of the story and at first read it seems like it starts out a little slow but once I thought about it I actually enjoyed how slow the story began, it added to the mystery of Aunt Maria and her dirty tricks. Wynne also makes the reader absolutely loathe Aunt Maria and her wicked friends, as soon as I read how she was treating Betty making her do all these things for her by reverse psychology saying that she didn't really have to.

Chris and Mig are a great duo that play off of eachothers characters. Mig is the sort of creative/imaginative writer and Chris is the smart adventurous one who isn't afraid to speak his mind. I really enjoyed how their relationship evolved as the story went on. They became stuck in this town and in Aunt Marias house and they become closer to each other as brother and sister. The whole division of sexes among the community is the biggest issue in the story but Mig and Chris conquer the division by working together to triumph over Aunt Maria and her evil minions. Even when Chris is a wolf, Mig knows exactly what he is saying and figures out how to talk to the ghost along with the help of her mother Betty.