Product Description

Beware of Helen...

Heather is such a whiny little brat. Always getting Michael and me into trouble. But since our mother married her father, we're stuck with her...our "poor stepsister" who lost her real mother in a mysterious fire.

But now something terrible has happened. Heather has found a new friend, out in the graveyard behind our home -- a girl named Helen who died with her family in a mysterious fire over a hundred years ago. Now her ghost returns to lure children into the pond...to drown! I don't want to believe in ghosts, but I've followed Heather into the graveyard and watch her talk to Helen. And I'm terrified. Not for myself, but for Heather...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #611230 in Books
• Published on: 1987-11-02
• Released on: 1987-11-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780380704422
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7 Ghost story fans have a spooky treat in store with Hahn's eerie new novel. Molly, the 12-year-old narrator, and her brother Michael dislike their bratty 5-year-old stepsister Heather and resent the family move to an isolated converted church in the country. The adjourning graveyard frightens Molly, but Heather seems drawn to it. Molly discovers that the ghost of a child (Helen) who died in a fire a century ago wants to lure Heather to her doom. Molly determines to save her stepsister. In so doing, she learns that Heather's strange behavior stems from her feelings of guilt at having accidentally caused her mother's death by playing near a stove and starting a fire. Eventually, Molly wrests Heather from Helen's arms as the ghost attempts to drown them. The girls discover the skeletons of Helen's parents, and their burial finally puts to rest Helen's spirit. This is a powerful, convincing, and frightening tale. The details of everyday life quickly give way to terror. The pace never slackens. Characterization is strong, and descriptive passages set a mood of suspense. There should be a heavy demand from readers who are not "faint at heart." Judy Greenfield, Rye Free Reading Room, N.Y.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A powerful, convincing, and frightening tale...Ghost-story fans have a spooky treat in store." -- -- School Library Journal Starred Review

Review
"A ghost story par excellence in which a difficult seven-year-old is drawn into a frightening relationship with the ghost of a dead child." (Booklist, ALA, Starred )

Customer Reviews

Amazing
This is an amazingly well-crafted ghost story. Spooky without ever being really scary, it is a good read for anyone of any age.

Molly's mother has remarried, and the new family (including Molly's brother Michael and new step-sister, Heather) moves out to the countryside so that the artist parents can have studio space. Heather, however, is a horrible little brat that tries to make Molly and Michael's life a nightmare. Since she is younger than Molly or Michael, and still hasn't gotten over her mother's death, Molly and Michael always get blamed. Even when Heather starts claiming that she can see a ghost named Helen, who is coming to get Molly...

I have a very low fear tolerance, and still can't watch horror movies (Christine scared the living daylights out of me as a teenager, and I couldn't sleep for days), but I still love this book. I re-read it every year on Halloween for years, and I still enjoy reading it. Any child, teenager, or adult who likes ghost stories should definately pick this one up.

I can't say enough about it!
I first read this book about 15 years ago. I've probably read it at least 50 times. It wasn't a book - it was an experience. I mean, how often does this happen - a stranger comes up to you because you're holding a book, says they knew they had to talk to you when they saw it, you bond over it and go on to be friends for years. That's what kind of book this is...!

This is a scary book. I wouldn't go near anything or anyone with the name "Helen" or "Harper" for years. This book also got me started reading the other books by Mary Downing Hahn. Every time I went to a library or bookstore, I immediately looked for new books by her.

I know my paperback is around here someplace (I remember the library hardcover's much nicer cover illustration...) but I haven't read it in a while. However, little bits of it or certain phrases from it pop up for me now and then... I think the book got so ingrained in me that I don't even notice it! Parts of it were so vivid and (fittingly) haunting - the link between the girls' names, the ruins of the house, the damage done to Molly and Michael's rooms, the creek that wound around through the forest and near the graveyard before finally leading to Harper Pond. Thinking about it still gives me chills.

Excellent... I can't recomend it enough.

Fun and Sad at the Same Time
This book started out slow and picked up after the first chapter,but lacked imagination further into the plot, and the author wrote as if hurrying to finish so actually skipped whole scenes and jumped from one scene to another leaving the reader confused and having to go back and re-read but still, I gave it a four star becuase as far as CHILDREN'S books goes, it was scary in parts and would do for the age group it's intended for.