A chilling murder mystery lies at the heart of this page-turning thriller about a missing teacher, small town secrets, and turbulent tween friendships from master of middle grade horror Mary Downing Hahn.
When best friends Abbi and Skylar witness a clandestine meeting between a mysterious woman and someone in a dark van, they're thrilled. Finally, a mystery to spice up the summer!
Who could these people be? Why are they meeting? Are they spies? Criminals? The two girls are determined to find out. But then a local woman goes missing and is found dead in the woods. And Abbi and Skylar realize that their detective work could hold the keys to solving her murder. Suddenly, sleuthing isn't so fun anymore.
As tensions rise and their friendship frays, the girls find themselves in increasing danger, and must choose between keeping a secret or exposing a life-altering truth.
From master of middle grade horror Mary Downing Hahn, a new thriller about bravery, unexpected friendship, and sinister cats that will captivate readers with its chilling mix of mystery and magic. Zoey loves spending the summer with her Aunt Alice, and her aunt's new house is the perfect place to cozy up with a good book. But she's unnerved by the overgrown forest next door, which is creepy even in the daytime and full of eerie sounds at night. Worse, there are rumors in town of a dark force in those woods. And Zoey can't deny that the wild black cats who live there seem to be watching her. When she encounters a mean old woman who claims to be their owner, Zoey realizes there's more to the cats than meets the eye. But little does she know that the closer she comes to discovering their secret, the more danger she's in . . .
From master of middle grade horror Mary Downing Hahn, a new thriller about bravery, unexpected friendship, and sinister cats that will captivate readers with its chilling mix of mystery and magic.
Zoey loves spending the summer with her Aunt Alice, and her aunt's new house is the perfect place to cozy up with a good book. But she's unnerved by the overgrown forest next door, which is creepy even in the daytime and full of eerie sounds at night. Worse, there are rumors in town of a dark force in those woods. And Zoey can't deny that the wild black cats who live there seem to be watching her.
When she encounters a mean old woman who claims to be their owner, Zoey realizes there's more to the cats than meets the eye. But little does she know that the closer she comes to discovering their secret, the more danger she's in . . .
While camping near Indian Creek, Matt and his best friend, Parker, get up early to see if they can spot a blue heron. Instead, they find the body of a dead man floating in the clear water. Parker is sure that George Evans, the smooth-talking local antiques dealer, must somehow be connected to the dead man. Matt isn't so sure-but then, on Halloween night, while snooping around Evans's antique shop, the boys make another shocking discovery that puts their own lives in danger. There are murderous grownups that would do anything to keep what the boys found in the shop a secret, and now they're after Parker and Matt. Are the boys clever enough to get away? Or will they, too, end up like the dead man in Indian Creek?
This collection of tales is for fans of ghost-story writer Mary Downing Hahn's scary but not too scary books. Even the stories without actual ghosts are spooky. Each tale turns something ordinary-a pigeon, a white dress, a stranger on the bus, a puppet-into a sinister link to the supernatural. For the human characters, secrets from the past or careless behavior in the present can lead to serious trouble. All the stories have a young person as their central character, so all will resonate easily with young listeners who enjoy the eerie, the creepy, and the otherworldly. In a concluding note, the author talks about how she came to write ghost stories.
When her adorable baby brother is replaced by an ugly, ill-tempered changeling, Mollie is determined to find the so-called Kinde Folke who took baby Thomas, return the changeling she calls Guest, and make them give Thomas back. Natural and magical obstacles and her own reckless temperament make her journey arduous and full of dangers, and a plot rich in surprises and twists makes this book a must-listen for Mary Downing Hahn's fans.
When Ashley finds a doll in her garden, she's determined to keep it. Little does she know that its previous owner-who's been dead for seven years-wants it back.
After Daniel's young sister disappears in the woods, he starts to believe the myth about a witch and her terrifying hog who take little girls and keep them for fifty years.
Jules's family moves into an old abandoned house. Her parents love it, but she's frightened and feels a sense of foreboding. When she sees a pale face in an upstairs window, she can't stop wondering about the eerie presence on the top floor-in a room with a locked door. Could it be someone who lived in the house a century earlier? Her fear replaced by fascination, Jules becomes determined to make contact with the mysterious figure and to unlock the door. Past and present intersect as she and her ghostly friend discover-and change-the fate of the family who lived in the house all those many years ago.
Against the ominous backdrop of the influenza epidemic of 1918, Elsie, the class tattletale, liar, and thief, claims the new girl at school, Annie, as her best friend. But Annie soon makes other friends as well and finds herself joining them in teasing and tormenting Elsie, who later succumbs to the epidemic and dies.
Elsie is not absent from school long though. She soon returns there as a ghost, ready to reclaim Annie's friendship and to punish all the girls who bullied her.
Margaret and her best friend Elizabeth both have brothers fighting the war against Hitler and, like everyone else they know, they are filled with feelings of patriotism. But the girls are also involved in their own personal war at home. Gordy Smith, the worst bully in the sixth grade, teases and torments them, and Margaret is scared to death of him. But when Gordy and his pals Toad and Doug grow bolder than ever, Margaret and Elizabeth come up with a daring plan to get even. That’s when the girls discover a shocking secret about Gordy that turns their lives upside-down and draws them into a startling confrontation with family, friends, and their own strongly held ideas.
“Subtle, thought provoking…Hahn succeeds in raising questions as valuable as they are vexing.”—Publishers Weekly
Just before summer begins, thirteen-year-old Ali finds an old photograph. She recognizes the two children in it; one's her mother, the other her aunt Dulcie-but who is the third person, the one who's been torn out of the picture? Ali willhave two months to figure it out, since she's spending the summer with her aunt and her cousin in the same house her mom and aunt used to visit when they were kids.Then Ali meets Sissy. Sissy is mean, spiteful, and determined to ruin Ali's summer. Sissy also has a secret. Could it have something to do with the old photo? Ali is dying to find out-though, if she's not careful, that may be exactly what happens to her.
"Hahn weaves into the story some classic mystery elements such as a torn photograph, a waterlogged doll, dense fog, and an empty grave, all of which add to the suspense and keep the well-plotted story moving along to a satisfying conclusion." -School Library Journal
