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A Haunting Collection by Mary Downing Hahn: Deep and Dark and Dangerous, All the Lovely Bad Ones, and Wait Till Helen Comes – Frightful Ghostly Mysteries
Mysterious disappearances! Ghost appearances! From the supernatural to the downright scary, these three spooky stories from award-winning author Mary Downing Hahn are sure to send shivers down readers’ spines. Mysterious photographs, ghostly old houses, and all things supernatural await readers in these three frightful tales.
391 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 20, 2011
258 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Mary Downing Hahn
71 books4,382 followersI grew up in a small shingled house down at the end of Guilford Road in College Park, Maryland. Our block was loaded with kids my age. We spent hours outdoors playing "Kick the Can" and "Mother, May I" as well as cowboy and outlaw games that usually ended in quarrels about who shot whom. In the summer, we went on day long expeditions into forbidden territory -- the woods on the other side of the train tracks, the creek that wound its way through College Park, and the experimental farm run by the University of Maryland.
In elementary school, I was known as the class artist. I loved to read and draw but I hated writing reports. Requirements such as outlines, perfect penmanship, and following directions killed my interest in putting words on paper. All those facts -- who cared what the principal products of Chile were? To me, writing reports was almost as boring as math.
Despite my dislike of writing, I loved to make up stories. Instead of telling them in words, I told them in pictures. My stories were usually about orphans who ran away and had the sort of exciting adventures I would have enjoyed if my mother hadn't always interfered.
When I was in junior high school, I developed an interest in more complex stories. I wanted to show how people felt, what they thought, what they said. For this, I needed words. Although I wasn't sure I was smart enough, I decided to write and illustrate children's books when I grew up. Consequently, at the age of thirteen, I began my first book. Small Town Life was about a girl named Susan, as tall and skinny and freckle faced as I was. Unlike her shy, self conscious creator, however, Susan was a leader who lived the life I wanted to live -- my ideal self, in other words. Although I never finished Small Town Life, it marked the start of a lifelong interest in writing.
In high school, I kept a diary. In college, I wrote poetry and short stories and dreamed of being published in The New Yorker. Unfortunately, I didn't have the courage or the confidence to send anything there.
By the time my first novel was published, I was 41 years old. That's how long it took me to get serious about writing. The Sara Summer took me a year to write, another year to find a publisher, and yet another year of revisions before Clarion accepted it.
Since Sara appeared in 1979, I've written an average of one book a year. If I have a plot firmly in mind when I begin, the writing goes fairly quickly. More typically, I start with a character or a situation and only a vague idea of what's going to happen. Therefore, I spend a lot of time revising and thinking things out. If I'd paid more attention to the craft of outlining back in elementary school, I might be a faster writer, but, on the other hand, if I knew everything that was going to happen in a story, I might be too bored to write it down. Writing is a journey of discovery. That's what makes it so exciting.
In elementary school, I was known as the class artist. I loved to read and draw but I hated writing reports. Requirements such as outlines, perfect penmanship, and following directions killed my interest in putting words on paper. All those facts -- who cared what the principal products of Chile were? To me, writing reports was almost as boring as math.
Despite my dislike of writing, I loved to make up stories. Instead of telling them in words, I told them in pictures. My stories were usually about orphans who ran away and had the sort of exciting adventures I would have enjoyed if my mother hadn't always interfered.
When I was in junior high school, I developed an interest in more complex stories. I wanted to show how people felt, what they thought, what they said. For this, I needed words. Although I wasn't sure I was smart enough, I decided to write and illustrate children's books when I grew up. Consequently, at the age of thirteen, I began my first book. Small Town Life was about a girl named Susan, as tall and skinny and freckle faced as I was. Unlike her shy, self conscious creator, however, Susan was a leader who lived the life I wanted to live -- my ideal self, in other words. Although I never finished Small Town Life, it marked the start of a lifelong interest in writing.
In high school, I kept a diary. In college, I wrote poetry and short stories and dreamed of being published in The New Yorker. Unfortunately, I didn't have the courage or the confidence to send anything there.
By the time my first novel was published, I was 41 years old. That's how long it took me to get serious about writing. The Sara Summer took me a year to write, another year to find a publisher, and yet another year of revisions before Clarion accepted it.
Since Sara appeared in 1979, I've written an average of one book a year. If I have a plot firmly in mind when I begin, the writing goes fairly quickly. More typically, I start with a character or a situation and only a vague idea of what's going to happen. Therefore, I spend a lot of time revising and thinking things out. If I'd paid more attention to the craft of outlining back in elementary school, I might be a faster writer, but, on the other hand, if I knew everything that was going to happen in a story, I might be too bored to write it down. Writing is a journey of discovery. That's what makes it so exciting.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 22, 2023
The Kid used to read A LOT of Mary Downing Hahn, therefore I read A LOT of Mary Downing Hahn...absolutely love this genre of book...
December 25, 2017
This is another I read with my daughter. She has read several of her books and generally likes them though she doesn't like certain characters. So we got this 3 book in 1 thing. I am having a hard time ranking this one. I want to give it a 4 but the first two stories really irked me. The third one was much better.
Book 1 Deep And Dark And Dangerous: I liked the premise of the story, the ghostly child. And while I know the ghost/child's character is to be a pain in the butt, in the end, the complete 180 done left my neck hurting. If you want her to be misunderstood, then at least plant little things here and there to get the hint across. Portraying her as someone I cannot stand to make her kind of sweet and "misunderstood" at the end was just whiplash. I couldn't even buy it. And the aunt!! For the love of God, be an adult! You don't hire a slightly older child to watch your younger child. That's like hiring a horse to take care of your dog when you go out of town (John Mullaney reference look it up). But at least the aunt and the lead character's mother were halfway open to the possibility of there being a ghost. So they weren't complete ass-hats.
Book 2 Wait Till Helen Comes This one... UGH GOD THIS ONE! It made me so angry. Why are the parents so afraid of being adults? Was this a theme in all Hahn's books? Leaving yet another young girl in charge of a pain in the butt younger child. I am in no way against kids helping with siblings or learning how to take care of someone but you do not leave them to be the almost sole caretaker while you and your hippie new hubby pursue your dreams of being artists. And get that child a damn therapist! A real father would put aside his own distaste for them for the care of his traumatized daughter. I mean what the serious hell?! Sorry, I'll stop, I could rant more but, for my own sanity I will stop.
Book 3 All The Lovely Bad Ones: Now this one I loved! Finally she got one right. The kids were high spirited and pranksters but well meaning. The ghost children were creepy but portrayed as victims of a more menacing woman. The grandmother didn't believe but didn't completely close herself off and in the end came around. It was a sweet story that I actually enjoyed. This story in itself I'd give at least a 4.5 When it was done I was sorry to see the shadow children go.
Book 1 Deep And Dark And Dangerous: I liked the premise of the story, the ghostly child. And while I know the ghost/child's character is to be a pain in the butt, in the end, the complete 180 done left my neck hurting. If you want her to be misunderstood, then at least plant little things here and there to get the hint across. Portraying her as someone I cannot stand to make her kind of sweet and "misunderstood" at the end was just whiplash. I couldn't even buy it. And the aunt!! For the love of God, be an adult! You don't hire a slightly older child to watch your younger child. That's like hiring a horse to take care of your dog when you go out of town (John Mullaney reference look it up). But at least the aunt and the lead character's mother were halfway open to the possibility of there being a ghost. So they weren't complete ass-hats.
Book 2 Wait Till Helen Comes This one... UGH GOD THIS ONE! It made me so angry. Why are the parents so afraid of being adults? Was this a theme in all Hahn's books? Leaving yet another young girl in charge of a pain in the butt younger child. I am in no way against kids helping with siblings or learning how to take care of someone but you do not leave them to be the almost sole caretaker while you and your hippie new hubby pursue your dreams of being artists. And get that child a damn therapist! A real father would put aside his own distaste for them for the care of his traumatized daughter. I mean what the serious hell?! Sorry, I'll stop, I could rant more but, for my own sanity I will stop.
Book 3 All The Lovely Bad Ones: Now this one I loved! Finally she got one right. The kids were high spirited and pranksters but well meaning. The ghost children were creepy but portrayed as victims of a more menacing woman. The grandmother didn't believe but didn't completely close herself off and in the end came around. It was a sweet story that I actually enjoyed. This story in itself I'd give at least a 4.5 When it was done I was sorry to see the shadow children go.
July 7, 2017
All three books kept me mesmerized it was hard to put down. Each story had its own excitement of ghost the hauntings and how each character delt with it.
Everyone. Any one who like suspense and adventure. Each character brought there own feelings and you really felt for all.
Everyone. Any one who like suspense and adventure. Each character brought there own feelings and you really felt for all.
November 29, 2019
Classic juvenile horror!
April 5, 2021
What a GREAT 3 story collection...I can't nor will I choose a favorite one they were equally good....
July 5, 2021
Lovely Bad Ones
This book started out slow for me, but a out half way through it picked up and I enjoyed it.
This book started out slow for me, but a out half way through it picked up and I enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews