Thursday, September 22, 2016

Hahn, Mary Downing. Took.

Hahn, Mary Downing.  Took.    Houghton Mifflin/Clarion  2015  264p  $16.99  ISBN 978-0-544-55153-4  elem/ms Horror  VG-BN     

When Daniel and his little sister Erica move with their parents from urban Connecticut to an old house in rural West Virginia, they have a lot of adjustments to make.  First of all, everyone tells them their new house is haunted.  In addition, the kids at school are mean, the house is in terrible shape, and Daniel’s parents are unhappy with their new jobs.  Everything seems to be stacked against them, parents and children alike.  On top of everything else, they keep hearing tales about an old witch called Auntie who haunts the woods near their house and captures young girls to be her slaves, keeping each girl for fifty years.  They dismiss these tales as being untrue and fantasy-based.  But when Erica suddenly disappears one day, things go from bad to worse. Daniel’s parents blame him for her disappearance.  While he is reluctant to believe the stories about Auntie and her kidnappings of children, he finally realizes that they must be true, and he undertakes to find and rescue his sister.  This story is creepy and will keep readers turning pages, with its well-drawn characters and fine pacing.  It is perfect for readers who are looking for a new Mary Downing Hahn story to keep them up at night.                
Recommended for upper-elementary and middle-school readers.

Summary: When Daniel and his little sister Erica move with their parents to a remote house in rural West Virginia, everything seems to go wrong, including Erica’s sudden disappearance. Could the stories of an old witch called Auntie possibly be true?      


Ghost stories-Fiction                                             --Carol Kennedy

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