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

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

Bow, Erin. Sorrow’s Knot.

Bow, Erin.  Sorrow’s Knot.  Scholastic/Arthur Levine  2013  342p  $17.99      ISBN 978-0-545-16666-9    hs  Fantasy  E-BN     

Otter must find a way to stop the White Hands or become one herself.    Three friends, a Storyteller, a Hunter, and a Binder, live in a village that is surrounded by ghosts.  An ordinary Binder can deal with most ghosts, but White Hands devour the spirits of the living, and it takes a Binder with legendary skills to successfully contain a White Hand.  When the village is confronted by a White Hand that had once been a Binder, the three friends must journey to the dawn of legends to seek a solution.

Erin Bow has created an eerie, atmospheric novel in the style of a Native American folk tale.  In the process, her superb world-building provides a rich backdrop to the exploration of profound questions about sacrifice, freedom, love, life, grief, and death.  Each character is fully rounded and developed, providing glimpses of humanity that readers will recognize in themselves and others.

Delicate and spine-chilling, this book will keep readers up late at night, haunting them long after they’ve turned the final page.

Summary: Otter must find a way to stop the White Hands or become one herself.

Ghosts-Fiction, Horror-Fiction                              --Hilary Welliver

Baron, Ruth. Defriended.

Baron, Ruth.  Defriended.  Scholastic Press     2013  238p  ISBN 978-0-545-42357-1 hs/adult     Paperback   VG-BN  Horror     

In this creative story, the protagonist, Jason, is gullible -- the perfect choice for Lacey as she uses Facebook to meet a boy who is lonely and willing as well as naive.  In fact, Lacey and Jason have so much in common that Jason begins to question their online relationship.  When he Googles her name, he discovers that the girl to whom he is writing has died.  What should he do?  He finds himself drawn into a dramatic search for the truth about Lacey’s death.  He enlists the help of his best friend, and together they forge ahead.  There are many possibilities: that Lacey never died, that she committed suicide, that she was murdered, that she fell from a balcony by accident, and that she is communicating with Jason via Facebook from some kind of afterlife.  Children do strange and scary things on the computer these days, and that is why this book is a compelling read.  We never really know if our children are safe.  We never really know who is “playing” with us behind the truly faceless technology.  The falling action is complex, the ending is creepy, and the resolution is unpredictable.  All three adjectives combine to make this book by Ruth Baron, a very talented writer, a wonderful choice.             

This book is a Book of Note to be enjoyed by both male and female readers at the high-school level.   It is not easy to bridge the gender gap, but with the right plot and character development, Baron has done so.

Summary: Through Facebook, a teenaged boy is drawn into a mystery involving a new relationship.  Curiosity about Lacey motivates him to learn more, but what he learns is that she is dead.  He teams up with his best friend to try to solve the mystery.         

Social media-Fiction, Mystery-Fiction                       --Martha Squaresky

Downer, Denise. Tombstone Twins: Soul Mates.

Downer, Denise.   Tombstone Twins: Soul Mates.  Capstone/Stone Arch     2013  48p  ISBN 978-1-4342-2248-0  elm/ms  Hardback  VG    Graphic novel

Upon opening this humorous graphic novel, young readers immediately know they are in pun heaven.  They are introduced to Dedbert, Skully, Rotto and Mr. Mortis; all names are tied to death in its various forms.  Illustrator Otis Frampton’s creations are enticing, and the colors, ranging from mauves to drab grays and greens, are deadly.  The story begins with a bully and his victim;  Rotto pushed Dedbert into a toilet and that is how he died.  Supporting characters range from the shock jocks and the hackers to the flat Stanleys and the little princesses, each one described according to the means of their demise.  When Skully joins the underworld, she finds a friend in Dedbert, and together they must try to save their underworld graves from an upper-world bulldozer that is threatening their above-ground graveyard.  With stringent laws in place, if Skully and Dedbert hope to stop the town from destroying the graveyard, they can’t touch or look anyone in the eye, or they will be seen.  Author Denise Downer champions reading when she states that Dedbert knows all of these tidbits of information because he reads a lot.  Aboveground, they begin to sabotage the bulldozer in clever ways.  The plot thickens, the students realize that they need to come together to save their homes, and the resolution is easy to figure out but fun. 

This book is all about empowering youngsters, even dead ones!  Younger readers, especially those who love puns, fast action and wonderful clarity in their graphic novels will enjoy this one.  Very young readers might not understand the puns, but the book is fun for them anyway.   It’s even short enough to read in one sitting, it provides questions for a good class discussion, and it teaches new vocabulary words.  What a nice collaboration this turned out to be!

Capstone’s graphic novel series offers other selections besides Tombstone Twins: Soul Mates.  Other titles include Tiger Moth: Attack of the Zom-Bees!, Pete Bogg: King of the Frogs, and Lucka Lizards: Chameleon Cage Match!  Added features include stellar graphics, creative plots, and fast-paced action. Young children will read these books.  An elementary school library’s graphic novel section should include a set of them.  Tombstone Kids is as entertaining as possible, with its puns, powerful design and unique plot. 

Summary: Dedbert joins the underworld when he dies by drowning in a toilet.  As macabre as that sounds, the author uses humor by having Dedbert develop a friendship with a fellow sufferer.  The two must try to save their community when a bulldozer threatens to dig up their graves.          

Humor-Graphic novels, Death-Graphic novels                  --Martha Squaresky