Took, A Ghost Story

""How much do you want your sister back, boy?" she whispered. Her eyes probed mine.

"I'd do anything to get her away from Auntie."

"Will you go to Auntie's cabin tonight, all by yourself? No mammy, no pappy, nobody? All by yourself. Just you. Are you brave enough?"

I stared at her, almost speechless. "Tonight?"

"You said you want your sister back. You said you'll do anything This is the onliest way to do it."

I glanced at Mrs. O'Neill to see what she thought. Her eyes were opened but unfocused, as blank as Little Erica's eyes. She and Selene seemed to be in a trance."

---

Mary Downing Hahn

Hahn, a former children's librarian, has written more than 20 ghost story novels for upper elementary and middle school readers.

She received the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for Stepping on the Cracks in 1992 and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Closed for the Season in 2004.

Hahn's 1986 Wait Till Helen Comes was made into a movie in 2016 with the lead played by Sophie Nelisse (who you may remember as Liesel in the 2013 film adaptation of The Book Thief.)

Synopsis

Daniel and Erica's father loses his job which forces the family to move from suburban Connecticut to rural West Virginia. From private schools to public schools. From a home near the country club to an abandoned farmhouse steeped in mystery and danger.  Daniel, in seventh grade, and Erica, a second grader, are both bullied for being outsiders and taunted for living in a house where a 7-year-old girl disappeared fifty years ago. 

And, then, one night Erica disappears.

---

World Relevance

Took is a suspenseful ghost story filled with magic, witches, and the mythical creature, Bloody Bones. While there is very little in the way of gore, there is enough plausibility mixed with the supernatural to satisfy middle readers' desire for something creepy. 

The life-changes experienced by the characters will resonate with children who are aware of the difficulties the pandemic has brought to their homes. Parental job loss, unfamiliar and difficult school circumstances, as well as inexplicable, worrying changes in family relationships are sources of anxiety-fueled feelings and thoughts for children and tweens.

Learning Connections

• What to Do (and Not Do) When Children are Anxious, ChildMind.org
• Grades 6 - 8, Health Problem Series: Stress, KidsHealth.org
  
• Grades 6 - 8, Health Problem Series: Depression, KidsHealth.org
  
• Grades 3 - 5 Health Problem Series, KidsHealth.org
  

Ages: 9 - 12 years old, Middle Chapter Books, 272 pages. “Folks say Old Auntie takes a girl and keeps her fifty years—then lets her go and takes another one.”

---

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.