[6] As was the case of Life Among the Savages, Raising Demons is composed primarily of short stories Jackson had previously published in women's magazines.

[8] The family spends the summer at a home in a resort town while they wait for the house to be vacated.

[9] The four children, now older, have developed their own distinctly different personalities: Laurie, the natural leader; Jannie, the romantic conformist; Sally, the stubborn, self-defined imp; and good-natured baby Barry, who seems to regard the rest of his family with wry amusement.

With the often indifferent assistance of her husband, the narrator struggles to maintain order and discipline through a series of domestic adventures, even through the heartbreak of realizing her children are growing up.

"[6] A Kirkus review commented that the book is "a very pleasant form of pandemonium and hugely entertaining.