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The Baby-Sitters Club #9
The Ghost at Dawn's House
Dawn has always thought there was a secret passage hidden in her house. But she never thought there was a ghost... until now. All kinds of creepy things go on whenever Dawn's at home. There are even spooky noises behind her bedroom wall!
Dawn is sure there's a ghost in her house. And so are the other Baby-sitters. But they're so busy with their baby-sitting jobs that they hardly have time for a ghost hunt. Will Dawn and her friends ever solve the mystery, or will Dawn have to share her house... with a ghost?
Dawn is sure there's a ghost in her house. And so are the other Baby-sitters. But they're so busy with their baby-sitting jobs that they hardly have time for a ghost hunt. Will Dawn and her friends ever solve the mystery, or will Dawn have to share her house... with a ghost?
114 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1988
269 people are currently reading
1669 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,113 books3,057 followersAnn Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 240 reviews
October 19, 2018
I swear Dawn gets some really interesting storylines. In this ninth book in the series, Dawn, her brother Jeff, and all the BSC are intrigued by Dawn's old New England farmhouse. Obviously as an adult, I am not quite as spooked out as I probably was at 10 years old, but it was still a good story. Unfortunately, Dawn's Mom and Mary Anne's Dad aren't dating right now. But there is this hilarious chapter with the Trip-Man, Sharon's latest date. It is also in this book that the BSC gets two more charges, the Perkins family who move into Kristy's old house. Their daughters Mariah and Gabby are quite precocious and their mom is expecting another baby. So the BSC is fairly excited about that!
January 22, 2010
this was one of my faves when i was a kid. i was so jealous of people who lived in new england because their houses were wicked old & maybe had secret passages! then i moved to new england (when i was 22) &...yeah, a lot of the houses are pre-fab 60s era suburban knock-offs completely devoid of secret passages. bummer.
i also loved this book because it was so atmospheric, with all the storms & dawn constantly reading ghost stories & scaring the crap out of herself. when i was a kid, i lived in ohio, where there were thunderstorms & tornadoes all summer. i was never afraid of tornadoes because they made everything look so cool. the air would become perfectly still & the sky would turn yellow or green & you'd see a twister coming over the horizon & have to dive for cover in the basement. i always brought along a BSC book for such occasions. anything to avoid looking at the walls & seeing spiders.
so, plot: dawn is into ghost stories & searching her house for a secret passage. one day, whilst reading ghost stories in her barn, she falls into a hidden trap door, which turns out to be a passage to a secret passage. this is what i don't get (& it never bothered me as a kid): apparently the secret passage goes underground & comes up INSIDE dawn's house. the exit is a wall in dawn's room, the wall she shares with her mom's room. apparently it springs open somehow.
okay, how do the schafers not notice this kind or architectural discrepancy? the passage is apparently large enough for a person to fit through & contains a staircase. so it's eating up a good three feet of space between the walls. plus, it's space that is empty, ie, uninsulated. wouldn't that make the house really drafty? i just don't understand.
dawn reads a history of stoneybrook & decides that a crazy old-timer named jared mullray shut himself up in the secret passage when his family was forced to abandon their farm. she thinks he eventually died there & is now haunting the passage. this whole plotline blows except for the ghost being named jared. that's my boyfriend's name! even as a kid, i thought it was a cool name. when i grew up & first heard of the jared that became my boyfriend, i thought, "hey! like jared mullray, crazy secret passage ghost dude!" jared says most people think of jared, the subway sandwich weight loss spokesperson. or jared diamond, if they're nerds/history grad students.
dawn hears weird noises & finds random shit in the passage, like old-timey ice cream cones & buffalo head nickels. but it turns out to be nicky pike, who needed a secret hide-out to get away from the triplets, who tease him, & all his sisters, who are girls. i'm only nine books in & i've already had it with the whole "triplets tease nicky" story. get over it & grow a pair, nicky. maybe it's just two pike-centric books back to back. i never cared for the pikes that much. anyway, dawn keeps nicky's secret...but still thinks the passage is haunted.
i also loved this book because it was so atmospheric, with all the storms & dawn constantly reading ghost stories & scaring the crap out of herself. when i was a kid, i lived in ohio, where there were thunderstorms & tornadoes all summer. i was never afraid of tornadoes because they made everything look so cool. the air would become perfectly still & the sky would turn yellow or green & you'd see a twister coming over the horizon & have to dive for cover in the basement. i always brought along a BSC book for such occasions. anything to avoid looking at the walls & seeing spiders.
so, plot: dawn is into ghost stories & searching her house for a secret passage. one day, whilst reading ghost stories in her barn, she falls into a hidden trap door, which turns out to be a passage to a secret passage. this is what i don't get (& it never bothered me as a kid): apparently the secret passage goes underground & comes up INSIDE dawn's house. the exit is a wall in dawn's room, the wall she shares with her mom's room. apparently it springs open somehow.
okay, how do the schafers not notice this kind or architectural discrepancy? the passage is apparently large enough for a person to fit through & contains a staircase. so it's eating up a good three feet of space between the walls. plus, it's space that is empty, ie, uninsulated. wouldn't that make the house really drafty? i just don't understand.
dawn reads a history of stoneybrook & decides that a crazy old-timer named jared mullray shut himself up in the secret passage when his family was forced to abandon their farm. she thinks he eventually died there & is now haunting the passage. this whole plotline blows except for the ghost being named jared. that's my boyfriend's name! even as a kid, i thought it was a cool name. when i grew up & first heard of the jared that became my boyfriend, i thought, "hey! like jared mullray, crazy secret passage ghost dude!" jared says most people think of jared, the subway sandwich weight loss spokesperson. or jared diamond, if they're nerds/history grad students.
dawn hears weird noises & finds random shit in the passage, like old-timey ice cream cones & buffalo head nickels. but it turns out to be nicky pike, who needed a secret hide-out to get away from the triplets, who tease him, & all his sisters, who are girls. i'm only nine books in & i've already had it with the whole "triplets tease nicky" story. get over it & grow a pair, nicky. maybe it's just two pike-centric books back to back. i never cared for the pikes that much. anyway, dawn keeps nicky's secret...but still thinks the passage is haunted.
August 19, 2019
I'm Allowed to Vote
Here's the thing about the Babysitters Club series: It's super down to earth. Despite toying with ridiculous implausibilities like a serial killer stalking the girls, an older high school lifeguard being attracted to 13-year-old Stacey, or anybody being friends with Mary Anne, the plot always comes back around to a reasonable explanation for the perceived phenomena. In the above cases, the explanations are respectively: over-imaginative young people watching the fear-mongering news, the very real delusions of a teenage crush, and witchcraft. Or possibly drugs.
For this reason, it is clear from the get-go that despite the title of this book being The Ghost at Dawn's House, we are bound to eventually discover that there is not, in fact, a ghost at Dawn's house. And indeed -- spoiler alert for this 1980s children's novel -- there is no ghost. Instead, Dawn has become overexcited by some fascinating local folklore involving her house and a surprise guest in a sort of crawl space thing. No ghost, no problem, (no real plot, to be honest.)
But here is the problem with that premise: Dawn is the Best Babysitter. Dawn is the smart one, the rational one, the calm one, the pretty one, the mature one. Dawn is and will always be my ichiban child care muchacha. If I were in the Babysitters Club, I'd go for tacos with Claudia, shopping with Stacey, study group with Kristy, and homecoming with Mary Anne so I could openly flirt with dudes while holding her hand. But Dawn would be who I'd call at night with my sadnesses, who I'd ask to help with the band bake sale, and whom ultimately I could call a best friend. I have great respect for her perspective and her intellect.
I reject the notion that Dawn would freak out over the easily-explained noises and visions she is perceiving through the walls of her house. Dawn, who stays cool in a crisis. Dawn, who is incredibly self-aware and critical-thinking. I refuse to accept that her behavior in this book is due to the knee-jerk, flouncing silliness of just another Claudia.
And therefore I deny it. The ending to this book is a sham. If Dawn says there is a ghost in her house, then that is my truth. All other explanations challenge my allegiance to the fiction I have constructed around this idyllic persona and are too painful for my fragile ego to accept. Get your ouija boards and your garlic or whatever because THERE IS A MOTHERFUCKING GHOST AT DAWN'S HOUSE, MY FRIENDS!
Reality is meaningless.
*************************************
Homework: Live your own truth, Oprah, who even cares anymore?
<< #8: Boy-Crazy Stacey
#10: Logan Likes Mary Anne! >>
Here's the thing about the Babysitters Club series: It's super down to earth. Despite toying with ridiculous implausibilities like a serial killer stalking the girls, an older high school lifeguard being attracted to 13-year-old Stacey, or anybody being friends with Mary Anne, the plot always comes back around to a reasonable explanation for the perceived phenomena. In the above cases, the explanations are respectively: over-imaginative young people watching the fear-mongering news, the very real delusions of a teenage crush, and witchcraft. Or possibly drugs.
For this reason, it is clear from the get-go that despite the title of this book being The Ghost at Dawn's House, we are bound to eventually discover that there is not, in fact, a ghost at Dawn's house. And indeed -- spoiler alert for this 1980s children's novel -- there is no ghost. Instead, Dawn has become overexcited by some fascinating local folklore involving her house and a surprise guest in a sort of crawl space thing. No ghost, no problem, (no real plot, to be honest.)
But here is the problem with that premise: Dawn is the Best Babysitter. Dawn is the smart one, the rational one, the calm one, the pretty one, the mature one. Dawn is and will always be my ichiban child care muchacha. If I were in the Babysitters Club, I'd go for tacos with Claudia, shopping with Stacey, study group with Kristy, and homecoming with Mary Anne so I could openly flirt with dudes while holding her hand. But Dawn would be who I'd call at night with my sadnesses, who I'd ask to help with the band bake sale, and whom ultimately I could call a best friend. I have great respect for her perspective and her intellect.
I reject the notion that Dawn would freak out over the easily-explained noises and visions she is perceiving through the walls of her house. Dawn, who stays cool in a crisis. Dawn, who is incredibly self-aware and critical-thinking. I refuse to accept that her behavior in this book is due to the knee-jerk, flouncing silliness of just another Claudia.
And therefore I deny it. The ending to this book is a sham. If Dawn says there is a ghost in her house, then that is my truth. All other explanations challenge my allegiance to the fiction I have constructed around this idyllic persona and are too painful for my fragile ego to accept. Get your ouija boards and your garlic or whatever because THERE IS A MOTHERFUCKING GHOST AT DAWN'S HOUSE, MY FRIENDS!
Reality is meaningless.
*************************************
Homework: Live your own truth, Oprah, who even cares anymore?
<< #8: Boy-Crazy Stacey
#10: Logan Likes Mary Anne! >>
August 14, 2021
Moral of the story: teenage girls who read ghost stories have overactive imaginations.
I remember reading this Babysitter's Club book as a kid and I not really having any strong opinions of it. That opinion remains. Nothing happens in this book other than Dawn finding a secret passage in her house that connects to her barn. Cue endless future Babysitter Club books mentioning this bloody secret passage.
And yes, I still dislike Dawn. I get it. You don't eat 'junk food'. Get off your high horse Dawn. You're 13 for God's sake, live a little. Also, Dawn's mother really isn't that bothered that her kids are home alone with no electricity in the pitch dark? You need to take some advice from the Pikes Sharon, just saying.
I remember reading this Babysitter's Club book as a kid and I not really having any strong opinions of it. That opinion remains. Nothing happens in this book other than Dawn finding a secret passage in her house that connects to her barn. Cue endless future Babysitter Club books mentioning this bloody secret passage.
And yes, I still dislike Dawn. I get it. You don't eat 'junk food'. Get off your high horse Dawn. You're 13 for God's sake, live a little. Also, Dawn's mother really isn't that bothered that her kids are home alone with no electricity in the pitch dark? You need to take some advice from the Pikes Sharon, just saying.
February 4, 2023
The babysitters have been apart for two whole weeks! During that time, Mary Anne and Stacey found boys at Sea City, Claudia and her family took my Mimi to a resort and Dawn visited her father in California. Kristy? Well, she stayed home, but home is now a mansion so she can’t really complain.
In this book, Dawn plays Nancy Drew, investigating a hunch that her new old house, which was built in 1795, has a previously undisclosed special feature: a secret passage. You know, like The Hidden Staircase, the Nancy Drew book that gave her the idea in the first place.
Claudia, whose life basically consists of art, sugar and forbidden Nancy Drew books, was one of the last BSC members to learn about the secret passage at Dawn’s house. I should not be this disappointed for her but here we are. If I’d written this book, Claudia would have led the investigation, Nancy Drewing her way to success.
Dawn babysits Buddy, Suzi and Marnie Barrett. Mary Anne babysits Myriah and Gabbie “Toshe me up” Perkins. Dawn babysits the Pike kids (all of them, with some help from Mallory) and then they babysit the triplets and Nicky. Kristy babysits Karen, Andrew and David Michael. Claudia babysits Jamie “hi-hi!” and Lucy (who was an “angle” - love Claudia typos) Newton. Stacey babysits Nicky, Vanessa, Claire and Margo Pike - and does housework! She can do my housework as well if she’d like.
Books in a book: Dawn reads Ghosts and Spooks, Chills and Thrills: Stories NOT to Be Read After Dark, which she reads after dark (obviously), freaking herself out. She also reads about a Stoneybrook legend in A History of Stoneybrooke. Apparently the e at the end dropped off over the years. Of course, this legend freaks her out even more.
Dawn and Jeff freak out about having to block off a wall so the ghost can’t get in the room. So much freaking out in this book. Also, don’t they know that walls aren’t a problem for ghosts?
Dawn’s mother dates a man named Trip. I have yet to meet a man named Trip.
Claudia magics chocolate from a hollow book. Which is the exact moment I decided I needed to buy a hollow book. Why haven’t I done that yet?
Gabby has a Cabbage Patch Doll. At the time I was reading these books I’d never heard of most of the junk food Claudia found in her room so it was a relief to come across something familiar.
Mary Anne’s crush on Cam Geary is mentioned a couple of times. Hello, foreshadowing.
There’s no emergency BSC meeting in this book but there is a slumber party at Dawn’s house. Kristy wants to watch Ghostbusters, Claudia wants to watch Star Wars, Stacey wants to watch Mary Poppins, Mary Anne wants to watch Sixteen Candles and Dawn wants to watch The Parent Trap. I want to watch Jaws.
Consistent with the responses of the BSC members, this book freaked me out as a kid. The idea of living in a haunted house terrified me, made worse by the fact that my neighbour decided to tell me that their home had a resident ghost around this time.
This book inspired me to borrow a bunch of books featuring ghost stories from the library that remained unread because my imagination was big and my courage was small.
I loved the idea of a secret passage. I looked for one at my home, despite it being less than fifteen years old at the time. I decided right then and there that one day I would live in a home with multiple secret passages. It would also have a secret reading room behind a bookcase, but I digress.
Because my childhood BSC books didn’t come with me into adulthood, I’ve repurchased them. The previous owner of this new old book completed the Notebook Pages. My favourite response was when the 8 year old reader said the BSC member they’re most like is Stacey because they’re “fashion sensitive”.
I want to give Nicky Pike a hug.
About the cover: The secret passage can be accessed through either a trapdoor in the barn or a wall in Dawn’s bedroom. Are Dawn and Jeff heading up to the attic together in this image, something they don’t do in the book? Or did someone in marketing forget to tell the artist how to find the secret passage?
Stoneybrook Central Time: At the beginning of the book, it’s the third week of August, two weeks until eighth grade begins. The babysitters are back after their various adventures of the past two weeks. You’ve already read about Mary Anne and Stacey’s time in Sea City. At the end of the book, school will be starting again in a few days.
Up next: Mary Anne meets Cam Geary in the flesh. Sort of.
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
In this book, Dawn plays Nancy Drew, investigating a hunch that her new old house, which was built in 1795, has a previously undisclosed special feature: a secret passage. You know, like The Hidden Staircase, the Nancy Drew book that gave her the idea in the first place.
It’s like a large, creepy dollhouse.Dawn invites the whole BSC over to help her search. They don’t find anything but they do scream a lot. Incidentally, at one point Dawn lets out a scream I don’t think I’ve heard in real life.
“Eeee-iii!”After going to a great deal of effort failing to find the secret passage, Dawn does. By sitting down. I love it when laziness is rewarded.
Claudia, whose life basically consists of art, sugar and forbidden Nancy Drew books, was one of the last BSC members to learn about the secret passage at Dawn’s house. I should not be this disappointed for her but here we are. If I’d written this book, Claudia would have led the investigation, Nancy Drewing her way to success.
Dawn babysits Buddy, Suzi and Marnie Barrett. Mary Anne babysits Myriah and Gabbie “Toshe me up” Perkins. Dawn babysits the Pike kids (all of them, with some help from Mallory) and then they babysit the triplets and Nicky. Kristy babysits Karen, Andrew and David Michael. Claudia babysits Jamie “hi-hi!” and Lucy (who was an “angle” - love Claudia typos) Newton. Stacey babysits Nicky, Vanessa, Claire and Margo Pike - and does housework! She can do my housework as well if she’d like.
Books in a book: Dawn reads Ghosts and Spooks, Chills and Thrills: Stories NOT to Be Read After Dark, which she reads after dark (obviously), freaking herself out. She also reads about a Stoneybrook legend in A History of Stoneybrooke. Apparently the e at the end dropped off over the years. Of course, this legend freaks her out even more.
Dawn and Jeff freak out about having to block off a wall so the ghost can’t get in the room. So much freaking out in this book. Also, don’t they know that walls aren’t a problem for ghosts?
Dawn’s mother dates a man named Trip. I have yet to meet a man named Trip.
Claudia magics chocolate from a hollow book. Which is the exact moment I decided I needed to buy a hollow book. Why haven’t I done that yet?
Gabby has a Cabbage Patch Doll. At the time I was reading these books I’d never heard of most of the junk food Claudia found in her room so it was a relief to come across something familiar.
Mary Anne’s crush on Cam Geary is mentioned a couple of times. Hello, foreshadowing.
There’s no emergency BSC meeting in this book but there is a slumber party at Dawn’s house. Kristy wants to watch Ghostbusters, Claudia wants to watch Star Wars, Stacey wants to watch Mary Poppins, Mary Anne wants to watch Sixteen Candles and Dawn wants to watch The Parent Trap. I want to watch Jaws.
Consistent with the responses of the BSC members, this book freaked me out as a kid. The idea of living in a haunted house terrified me, made worse by the fact that my neighbour decided to tell me that their home had a resident ghost around this time.
This book inspired me to borrow a bunch of books featuring ghost stories from the library that remained unread because my imagination was big and my courage was small.
I loved the idea of a secret passage. I looked for one at my home, despite it being less than fifteen years old at the time. I decided right then and there that one day I would live in a home with multiple secret passages. It would also have a secret reading room behind a bookcase, but I digress.
Because my childhood BSC books didn’t come with me into adulthood, I’ve repurchased them. The previous owner of this new old book completed the Notebook Pages. My favourite response was when the 8 year old reader said the BSC member they’re most like is Stacey because they’re “fashion sensitive”.
I want to give Nicky Pike a hug.
About the cover: The secret passage can be accessed through either a trapdoor in the barn or a wall in Dawn’s bedroom. Are Dawn and Jeff heading up to the attic together in this image, something they don’t do in the book? Or did someone in marketing forget to tell the artist how to find the secret passage?
Stoneybrook Central Time: At the beginning of the book, it’s the third week of August, two weeks until eighth grade begins. The babysitters are back after their various adventures of the past two weeks. You’ve already read about Mary Anne and Stacey’s time in Sea City. At the end of the book, school will be starting again in a few days.
Up next: Mary Anne meets Cam Geary in the flesh. Sort of.
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
October 31, 2020
Ahh! That was some serious spooky fun as well as just fun in general! Its probably been 25 years since I've read a BSC book, but because I've seen the 1995 movie about 3,000 times I was instantly on board with who each girl is, her family, her attitude and style, etc. It really felt like reuniting with friends from 5th grade and I had such a fun time reading this! I've gotta get more. Is there a REAL ghost?? You gotta find out!
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July 26, 2025
oops-
a Ghost!
Kristy still manages to be so bossy. Dawn's eco-warrior spirit meets a spectral squatter, showing that even the most progressive households aren't safe from old-fashioned hauntings. It's not "boo!"... lol... You'll wonder if the ghost needed a babysitter too.
a Ghost!
Kristy still manages to be so bossy. Dawn's eco-warrior spirit meets a spectral squatter, showing that even the most progressive households aren't safe from old-fashioned hauntings. It's not "boo!"... lol... You'll wonder if the ghost needed a babysitter too.
January 3, 2021
What a horrible start to the new year! I hope this is not a sign of things to come. This entry in the series tried to be a mystery and/or a ghost story as well as a Baby-Sitters Club book and failed miserably at all three. What little babysitting there was was thrown in random chapters from other characters' perspectives that didn't fit into, much less impact, the main story. The "mystery" was immediately obvious and when Dawn finally figured it out Martin tried to delay things a little more with the silly contrivance of Dawn saying only she had a theory even though we have been firmly in Dawn's head for the rest of the book up to that point. The ghost story part served no purpose except apparently to necessitate the worst ending I have read in a really long time. This book was almost enough to make me abandon our Baby-Sitters Club project. We are not doing that, but we are starting to cherry-pick, so we skipped books 10-13 and are reading Hello, Mallory next.
July 7, 2020
While I actually started reading around age 3 (thank you, my Granny's Dick and Jane books!), this series is what I remember most about loving to read during my childhood. My sister and I drank these books up like they were oxygen. I truly think we owned just about every single one from every one of the series. We even got the privilege of meeting Ann M. Martin at a book signing, but of course little starstruck me froze and could not speak a word to my biggest hero at that time. Once in awhile if I come across these at a yard sale, I will pick them up for a couple hour trip down memory lane, and I declare nearly nothing centers and relaxes me more!
October 19, 2018
Dawn finds a mysterious tunnel leading from her room to her families barn. It’s all fun and games until she starts hearing Moaning and strange noises at night though. Could there really be a ghost haunting her house!?! With summer almost over all the girls are enjoying babysitting and time off of school, can they solve the mystery at dawns house though?
August 24, 2012
This is a pretty good book. I like how the secret passage starts in the barn and ends right in Dawns room. Dawn gets really scared when she finds out that different things are going in and out of the passage but what she doesn't know is that it's just Nicky Pike. Nicky found the passage before Dawn and he was using it as a hiding place. This is a really mysterious book.
September 26, 2023
The first real foray into BSC mystery lore and it happens in the first ten books!
Such a classic Baby-Sitters Club. I love the haunted passage storyline and the way it continued to be an ongoing part of the series.
So many fun parts to all of this: the last weeks before summer, checking out horror books from the library and scaring yourself silly, rain storms, sleepovers, historical ghosts, and some serious babysitting PTSD (why do kids always take off when Dawn is babysitting??)
Such a classic Baby-Sitters Club. I love the haunted passage storyline and the way it continued to be an ongoing part of the series.
So many fun parts to all of this: the last weeks before summer, checking out horror books from the library and scaring yourself silly, rain storms, sleepovers, historical ghosts, and some serious babysitting PTSD (why do kids always take off when Dawn is babysitting??)
January 22, 2016
dawn's house is really old and she enjoys reading ghost stories, so naturally the house must have a haunted secret passage in it, right? meanwhile nicky pike doesn't fit in in his family (too girly for boys' town, too much of a boy for girls' town) and keeps disappearing to somewhere within a 2 block radius of his house, the rule instated by the pike parents. when dawn actually finds a secret passage from her barn to her house, she discovers discarded items in it like a piece of a sugar cone (and dawn and jeff think that such an old-fashioned style of ice cream cone must mean it came from a long-dead ghost), but eventually it becomes obvious that sad nicky pike is the one haunting the passage.
highlights:
-introduction to the perkinses. gabbie perkins always says "toshe me up" (which means "pick me up and give me a hug") and calls the baby-sitters by their full names ("kristy thomas" and "mary anne spier"). also they have a cat named RC (which stands for rat catcher).
-first instance of mallory officially being the second babysitter at the pikes
-when dawn and jeff find out that their mom's date's name is trip: "I bet he wears pink socks and alligator shirts and his friends call him, like, the Trip-Man or something." (dawn) "I bet he plays golf." (jeff) "I bet his idea of an amusing afternoon is balancing his checkbook." (dawn)
-karen tells ghost stories about ben brewer when kristy is baby-sitting, and then she, andrew, david michael, louie, and boo-boo all end up sleeping together in kristy's bed because they're scared.
-mary anne wishes cam geary would move to stonybrook, foreshadowing Logan Likes Mary Anne! (because logan looks like cam geary).
lowlight:
-dawn calls it unbearably hot even for californians and says its 100 and humid. ann, this is like 20 degrees hotter than it is in southern california at any given point in time. OF COURSE it's unbearably not. no "even for californians" -- californians don't have to deal with that shit! ann DOES NOT GET the california weather thing.
NO OUTFITS. almost not worth the read!
snacks in claudia's room:
-chocolate kisses in a hollow book on her shelf
-crackers (somewhere, not specified)
-claudia, kristy, and mary anne also bring s'mores fixin's to dawn's house when there is a sleepover there. it's really rude and kind of hilarious.
at the slumber party, each member of the bsc requests a specific movie:
-kristy: ghostbusters
-claudia: star wars
-stacey: mary poppins
-mary anne: sixteen candles
-dawn: parent trap (into trying to get her and mary anne's dad back together)
highlights:
-introduction to the perkinses. gabbie perkins always says "toshe me up" (which means "pick me up and give me a hug") and calls the baby-sitters by their full names ("kristy thomas" and "mary anne spier"). also they have a cat named RC (which stands for rat catcher).
-first instance of mallory officially being the second babysitter at the pikes
-when dawn and jeff find out that their mom's date's name is trip: "I bet he wears pink socks and alligator shirts and his friends call him, like, the Trip-Man or something." (dawn) "I bet he plays golf." (jeff) "I bet his idea of an amusing afternoon is balancing his checkbook." (dawn)
-karen tells ghost stories about ben brewer when kristy is baby-sitting, and then she, andrew, david michael, louie, and boo-boo all end up sleeping together in kristy's bed because they're scared.
-mary anne wishes cam geary would move to stonybrook, foreshadowing Logan Likes Mary Anne! (because logan looks like cam geary).
lowlight:
-dawn calls it unbearably hot even for californians and says its 100 and humid. ann, this is like 20 degrees hotter than it is in southern california at any given point in time. OF COURSE it's unbearably not. no "even for californians" -- californians don't have to deal with that shit! ann DOES NOT GET the california weather thing.
NO OUTFITS. almost not worth the read!
snacks in claudia's room:
-chocolate kisses in a hollow book on her shelf
-crackers (somewhere, not specified)
-claudia, kristy, and mary anne also bring s'mores fixin's to dawn's house when there is a sleepover there. it's really rude and kind of hilarious.
at the slumber party, each member of the bsc requests a specific movie:
-kristy: ghostbusters
-claudia: star wars
-stacey: mary poppins
-mary anne: sixteen candles
-dawn: parent trap (into trying to get her and mary anne's dad back together)
October 11, 2016
This cover doesn't make any sense. The stairs are going up. And the lights are on. And there's a handrail. And the stairs are going UP?? What the heck? Okay, anyway! This was a good, scary read. Dawn borrows a Nancy Drew book, The Hidden Staircase, from Claudia and becomes convinced that there is a secret passage in their old farmhouse. I actually remember reading this one and being totally freaked.
Dawn does find a secret passage, by falling through a trap-door in the old barn. It was covered by some hay. Yeah, cause they've never cleaned that place out? Okay. The passage goes up to Dawn's room and she finds some odd stuff on the ground over the next few days: a key, coin, button, an ice-cream cone. Dawn is convinced there's a ghost, named Jared Mullray, haunting her. Turns out, Nicky Pike has also found the passage and has been using it as his own secret hideout from the triplets. Dawn ends up agreeing to share it with him as long as he doesn't scare the crap out of her again lol.
There's some other subplots with Kristy, MaryAnne, Claudia and Stacey but they aren't very interesting. Plus, there's not a "What Claudia is Wearing" :( so you know what that means?? I get to make up my own again! :) And I'm just going to warn you now: I was hungry when I made it hah! "What Claudia Should Have Been Wearing":
Claudia was wearing red, skinny jeans with a pink and yellow sweater that had hamburgers and pizzas on it. She decided to go all out and become a walking all-you-can-eat bar. She paired her sushi socks with her cuppycake Keds and her doughnut charm bracelet with her Kawaii breakfast necklace. In her ears she had Coca-Cola bottles and fried eggs. She even had on pineapple boy shorts, not that she showed anyone those. Her purse was made of candy necklaces and at lunch-time she pulled her money out of a taco change purse. Students complained all day that she was making their stomachs growl.
Blogged: SeeJennRead
Dawn does find a secret passage, by falling through a trap-door in the old barn. It was covered by some hay. Yeah, cause they've never cleaned that place out? Okay. The passage goes up to Dawn's room and she finds some odd stuff on the ground over the next few days: a key, coin, button, an ice-cream cone. Dawn is convinced there's a ghost, named Jared Mullray, haunting her. Turns out, Nicky Pike has also found the passage and has been using it as his own secret hideout from the triplets. Dawn ends up agreeing to share it with him as long as he doesn't scare the crap out of her again lol.
There's some other subplots with Kristy, MaryAnne, Claudia and Stacey but they aren't very interesting. Plus, there's not a "What Claudia is Wearing" :( so you know what that means?? I get to make up my own again! :) And I'm just going to warn you now: I was hungry when I made it hah! "What Claudia Should Have Been Wearing":
Claudia was wearing red, skinny jeans with a pink and yellow sweater that had hamburgers and pizzas on it. She decided to go all out and become a walking all-you-can-eat bar. She paired her sushi socks with her cuppycake Keds and her doughnut charm bracelet with her Kawaii breakfast necklace. In her ears she had Coca-Cola bottles and fried eggs. She even had on pineapple boy shorts, not that she showed anyone those. Her purse was made of candy necklaces and at lunch-time she pulled her money out of a taco change purse. Students complained all day that she was making their stomachs growl.
Blogged: SeeJennRead
October 31, 2021
I didn't realize this book came after Stacey/Mary Anne's vacation before the first fall of eighth grade. I really liked this Dawn. I think eventually all of the girls were flanderized much in the same way sitcom characters are ruined because the writers/producers are responding too much to fan reactions, and the girld would probably come off better if the series were discontinued after around 20 books.
But anyway, in this book when time is still normal and we're still getting to know the girls (note: this is probably the only book where there are no two chapters descrihing the BSC or any of the members!), it reads like a regular junior high book--not great, but not terrible. The chapter on Mary Anne and the Perkins girls didn't add anything to the main plot, but was there to show Mary Anne's character growth (and she wasn't yet so obnoxious at this point).
I actually did remember the Nicky "plot surprise" at the end (note: Nicky will definitely grow up to be a male version of Mallory, although I can see either one or both of these coming out as trans as adults), but I don't remember if the ghost mystery was ever fully resolved. I did end up coming across Dawn's portrait book and was reminded oh how I, too, had to write my autobiography when I was in eighth grade, and I don't know which genius came up with the idea that a 13-year-old has lived long enough to have any business writing an autobiography.
But anyway, in this book when time is still normal and we're still getting to know the girls (note: this is probably the only book where there are no two chapters descrihing the BSC or any of the members!), it reads like a regular junior high book--not great, but not terrible. The chapter on Mary Anne and the Perkins girls didn't add anything to the main plot, but was there to show Mary Anne's character growth (and she wasn't yet so obnoxious at this point).
I actually did remember the Nicky "plot surprise" at the end (note: Nicky will definitely grow up to be a male version of Mallory, although I can see either one or both of these coming out as trans as adults), but I don't remember if the ghost mystery was ever fully resolved. I did end up coming across Dawn's portrait book and was reminded oh how I, too, had to write my autobiography when I was in eighth grade, and I don't know which genius came up with the idea that a 13-year-old has lived long enough to have any business writing an autobiography.
September 20, 2022
This was another BSC book that have me the chills. With all the legends and creepy noises, this book is Nancy Drew level for me! Totally recommend 👍
April 29, 2009
AWESOME. Who didn't want a secret passageway in their house?! The only thing was, as an Australian, I had NO idea at seven or so what this underground railroad was meant to be.
October 12, 2014
A blast from the past. Reliving my childhood. Super mad that I sold all of my Babysitter Club & Sweet Valley Twin books.
February 16, 2021
I wanted to be Dawn when I first read this book growing up! A secret passageway in your home?! So cool. I think I still want to be like Dawn in that regard, now that I think about it!
October 14, 2021
This one is just creepy and fun and probably has the least amount of dialogue-driven recaps of babysitting I’ve read so far.
December 18, 2021
Dawn thinks she has a ghost in a secret passage she finds in her house. I wonder if she has a ghost too. The story never clarified.
July 22, 2016
Dawn finds her infamous secret passage in this book, and discovers the legend of Jared Mullray. She also forms an odd bond with Nicky Pike, who uses her secret passage to escape from the triplets teasing, although that seems to be contained to this book only. This was one of the very first books I read (back when I still liked Dawn) and I read it while I was eating cheese popcorn, so my copy had cheese colored fingerprints on some of the pages.
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
I was desperate to find a secret passage in my house, and was so upset when my mom pointed out that our house was brand new, and built by my parents, and therefore had no secret passage. Later, when my father added onto the house I tried to convince him to add a secret passage, but he wouldn't do it.
As a kid I didn't think the triplets were that bad to Nicky, and I actually remember thinking that he was kind of a baby. The Pikes have never been my favorite characters, and there was too much of their story wrapped up in this book.
I had no idea why Dawn and Jeff made so much fun of their mother's date, Theodore "Trip" Gwynne. They laughed and laughed at his name, and then made fun of his clothes, which I did not get when I read this for the first time when I was eight. But now. . .
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
I do understand why the idea of Trip is funny, and I think it's hilarious that Dawn's mother, who has spent the last twenty years in California, would consider going out with someone like him. I think it's telling that he's the son of a friend of Dawn's grandparents (the same ones who disapproved of Mary Anne's working class grandparents), who are obviously trying to get her to marry up.
Every once in a while in this series Dawn alludes to her parents "messy divorce", but she never goes into much detail, even in the Super Special The Baby Sitters Remember, when she tells the story of her parents' divorce. I would love to know how it was messy. I'm assuming her father cheated on her mother because her mother calls him a liar when he is hours late coming home.
Dawn says that she doesn't have to watch Jeff since he's ten, and doesn't really need a baby sitter. In this book, Mallory is considered the second baby sitter for her family for the first time. I'm kind of surprised that the triplets (who are the same age as Jeff) don't launch a rebellion against being baby sat until much, much later in the series.
Dawn gets so worked up about a ghost in her passage, and it's kind of ridiculous. She is sure someone was locked up to die and now haunts the passage, but where are the remains of a body? Later she is sure there's a ghost because she finds an ice cream cone, and an old nickle in the passageway after she checked it. Even later she finds peanut shells, a book, and a key. I have to say, my mind wouldn't have jumped to this being evidence of a ghost, but rather evidence of some creepy homeless person hanging out in the walls of my house. That's what would have concerned me, weird people hanging around behind the wall of my bedroom. I guess it makes sense that Dawn, who can be so morose, would let her imagination run away with her, and assume that every little creak in her house means there must a be a spirit hanging around. Later in the series Dawn seems anxious to find ghosts whenever she hears rumor of one, and the idea of people stirring up spirits to show evidence of them is completely disrespectful to me. If she is so eager to find a ghost, then she has no business getting so upset when one supposedly finds its way into her life. In this book, when it turns out the ghost was Nicky Pike, there is supposedly a loose thread because Nicky didn't leave the second key Dawn found. Which means there is another someone who found the passage and is using it to hide out, which doesn't sound very safe for the Schafers and Nicky.
I'm kind of mad that Nicky wasn't given a sterner talking to. I don't think its appropriate for him to sneak into Dawn's barn, much less part of her house. This is mentioned as an aside, but it really seems like a problem to me, although maybe not to the residents of Stoneybrook. Also, Nicky mentions something about hoping the triplets won't start hanging out in the secret passage also, which again, seems really weird. Would they just expect to constantly be hanging around Dawn's house? Although Nicky's fears about the triplets invading his secret place might make sense given that the triplets are good friends with Jeff, and therefore have more reason to show up unexpectedly at Dawn's house than Nicky. Dawn mentions that the passageway might be unsafe, which I think is a very valid concern. What if Nicky gets badly injured while playing in it? I didn't really like that Dawn says it's A-OK for Nicky to use the passage when he wants to, and that the adults all go along with it, especially considering two things: 1) in Dawn and the Impossible Three, Dawn's mother doesn't want Dawn and Jeff to play inside the barn because it might be unsafe, and 2) I thought they were going to find a way to lock the passage to prevent criminal types from using the passage, which would mean the neighborhood kids wouldn't be able to traipse in and out of the Schafers' home also. Maybe they do take Mrs Pike's suggestion, and check the condition of the passage, with the barn safety check thrown in for good measure.
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
I was desperate to find a secret passage in my house, and was so upset when my mom pointed out that our house was brand new, and built by my parents, and therefore had no secret passage. Later, when my father added onto the house I tried to convince him to add a secret passage, but he wouldn't do it.
As a kid I didn't think the triplets were that bad to Nicky, and I actually remember thinking that he was kind of a baby. The Pikes have never been my favorite characters, and there was too much of their story wrapped up in this book.
I had no idea why Dawn and Jeff made so much fun of their mother's date, Theodore "Trip" Gwynne. They laughed and laughed at his name, and then made fun of his clothes, which I did not get when I read this for the first time when I was eight. But now. . .
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
I do understand why the idea of Trip is funny, and I think it's hilarious that Dawn's mother, who has spent the last twenty years in California, would consider going out with someone like him. I think it's telling that he's the son of a friend of Dawn's grandparents (the same ones who disapproved of Mary Anne's working class grandparents), who are obviously trying to get her to marry up.
Every once in a while in this series Dawn alludes to her parents "messy divorce", but she never goes into much detail, even in the Super Special The Baby Sitters Remember, when she tells the story of her parents' divorce. I would love to know how it was messy. I'm assuming her father cheated on her mother because her mother calls him a liar when he is hours late coming home.
Dawn says that she doesn't have to watch Jeff since he's ten, and doesn't really need a baby sitter. In this book, Mallory is considered the second baby sitter for her family for the first time. I'm kind of surprised that the triplets (who are the same age as Jeff) don't launch a rebellion against being baby sat until much, much later in the series.
Dawn gets so worked up about a ghost in her passage, and it's kind of ridiculous. She is sure someone was locked up to die and now haunts the passage, but where are the remains of a body? Later she is sure there's a ghost because she finds an ice cream cone, and an old nickle in the passageway after she checked it. Even later she finds peanut shells, a book, and a key. I have to say, my mind wouldn't have jumped to this being evidence of a ghost, but rather evidence of some creepy homeless person hanging out in the walls of my house. That's what would have concerned me, weird people hanging around behind the wall of my bedroom. I guess it makes sense that Dawn, who can be so morose, would let her imagination run away with her, and assume that every little creak in her house means there must a be a spirit hanging around. Later in the series Dawn seems anxious to find ghosts whenever she hears rumor of one, and the idea of people stirring up spirits to show evidence of them is completely disrespectful to me. If she is so eager to find a ghost, then she has no business getting so upset when one supposedly finds its way into her life. In this book, when it turns out the ghost was Nicky Pike, there is supposedly a loose thread because Nicky didn't leave the second key Dawn found. Which means there is another someone who found the passage and is using it to hide out, which doesn't sound very safe for the Schafers and Nicky.
I'm kind of mad that Nicky wasn't given a sterner talking to. I don't think its appropriate for him to sneak into Dawn's barn, much less part of her house. This is mentioned as an aside, but it really seems like a problem to me, although maybe not to the residents of Stoneybrook. Also, Nicky mentions something about hoping the triplets won't start hanging out in the secret passage also, which again, seems really weird. Would they just expect to constantly be hanging around Dawn's house? Although Nicky's fears about the triplets invading his secret place might make sense given that the triplets are good friends with Jeff, and therefore have more reason to show up unexpectedly at Dawn's house than Nicky. Dawn mentions that the passageway might be unsafe, which I think is a very valid concern. What if Nicky gets badly injured while playing in it? I didn't really like that Dawn says it's A-OK for Nicky to use the passage when he wants to, and that the adults all go along with it, especially considering two things: 1) in Dawn and the Impossible Three, Dawn's mother doesn't want Dawn and Jeff to play inside the barn because it might be unsafe, and 2) I thought they were going to find a way to lock the passage to prevent criminal types from using the passage, which would mean the neighborhood kids wouldn't be able to traipse in and out of the Schafers' home also. Maybe they do take Mrs Pike's suggestion, and check the condition of the passage, with the barn safety check thrown in for good measure.
December 31, 2018
Hantu di Rumah Dawn, yang ternyata hantunya adalah... duh, lucu banget sih bocah-bocah yang mereka asuh.
June 17, 2020
literally the most boring BSC book I’ve ever read but that makes sense given what a dull dud Dawn is most of the time
December 6, 2020
Love this series
April 6, 2021
3,5 tähteä. Vähän kauhua ja kesälomaa. Vanhusta pelotta yksin kotona seinään koputtelijat.
January 1, 2022
Turns out the best mystery for me is a mystery that is intended for 8-12 year old girls.
October 17, 2025
Excellent secret passage, well done ghost. And all the pranks. And Dawn’s mother’s uncool boyfriend.
October 28, 2022
The Ghost at Dawn’s House
Dawn decides to invite the BSC over (inspired by a storm and a book of scary stories) to search her house for hidden tunnels and passageways. They do find a hollow space in Dawn’s wall, but they don’t find any springs or catches and thinks it’s a false alarm.
Maryanne meets the new clients in Kristy’s house (Myriah and Gabbie). At first, she’s a little resentful but she comes around. She also finds out that Mrs. Perkins is going to have a baby. By the end of the sitting job, she even shares with Myriah they can talk to each other by looking o ut each other’s windows (like she did with Kristy).
Dawn sits for the Pikes and Mallory gets to be the second sitter. Mrs. Pike tells Dawn Nicky is in his feelings because the triplets won’t let him hang with them, and he doesn’t want to play with the girls. So they let him go off on this own as long as he stays within two blocks. The triplets get invited to swim at someone’s house and they invite Jeff. Nicky disappears and when Dawn finally finds him he says he was someplace where he could stay cool *and* be within two blocks. Dawn is intrigued.
Since it’s hot in Stoney Brooke, Dawn goes in the barn to find a cool place to read. She ends up falling and finding a tunnel that leads underground to her house. Up a set of stairs, she comes to a wall that springs back and she’s standing in her own room. Exploring the tunnel further she finds an old coin, a belt buckle, and a key. Could a ghost be haunting the tunnel? (Umm, I really don’t think a ghost would have SOLID OBJECTS.)
There’s another storm and the electricity is knocked off. Dawn decides to show Jeff the passage. But this time there’s a nickel and the bottom of an ice cream cone inside. Then they hear a moan. Dawn and Jeff think the ghost wants his items back so she throws the nickel back downstairs.
Dawn calls her mom and she and her new boyfriend Trip-Man come home. Trip-man suggests they lock both entrances.
Dawn later finds a book her grandmother sent home about the history of Stoneybrooke. In it there’s a legend about the Murray family. The Mulrays eventually had to sell their house because they were in debt, but the oldest son (Jared) didn’t want to move and on the day they moved it was said his voice could be heard coming from between the house and the farm. Only when the house was searched no one was in it. After that, he just disappeared. Some said he still haunted the house. Dawn then thinls Jared is the one haunting her house.
She tells Maryanne and shows her the passage but the coin is gone. She finds some other things in the passage that weren’t there before (peanut shells, a book called Dog Tails).
On a hunch one day when the triples are being asses to Nicky she finds out that he’s been the one in the tunnel and the coins were his, and the food was his. Only there was a key found that he said wasn’t his. Dawn says he can come back and his parents ok this.
The BSC has a sleepover and Stacey and Dawn decide to get back at the others for making smores. They go into the tunnel and make all kinds of noises then reveal themselves. They then make plans for the rest of the summer.
There’s some unimportant sitting jobs thrown in. Kristy sits for Karen and she tells this tale about how a ghost turned old Ben Brewer crazy. Later they all get scared (David Michael, her, and Andrew) and they all end up in Kristy’s bed.
Claudia sits for Jamie Newton and he keeps making up excuses and won’t go to sleep. Stacey sits for Claire, Margo, Vanessa, and Nicky, and Vanessa and Margo use too much of a sample of shampoo in Claire’s hair and it won’t come out.
My Thoughts:
Interestingly enough I use to have dreams about finding secret rooms in different family houses. I think Dawn’s secret passage sounds perfect for solitude. I wondered a couple of things about this one. The most important one was if the coins and the food belonged to Nicky then who did the buckle and the keys belong to. He only said he *saw* them. He didn’t say they were *his*. Then what was up with Sharon dating all these different men AT THE SAME TIME? It named about four different men she was going out with. Sharon sure did get around.
Rating: 5
Dawn decides to invite the BSC over (inspired by a storm and a book of scary stories) to search her house for hidden tunnels and passageways. They do find a hollow space in Dawn’s wall, but they don’t find any springs or catches and thinks it’s a false alarm.
Maryanne meets the new clients in Kristy’s house (Myriah and Gabbie). At first, she’s a little resentful but she comes around. She also finds out that Mrs. Perkins is going to have a baby. By the end of the sitting job, she even shares with Myriah they can talk to each other by looking o ut each other’s windows (like she did with Kristy).
Dawn sits for the Pikes and Mallory gets to be the second sitter. Mrs. Pike tells Dawn Nicky is in his feelings because the triplets won’t let him hang with them, and he doesn’t want to play with the girls. So they let him go off on this own as long as he stays within two blocks. The triplets get invited to swim at someone’s house and they invite Jeff. Nicky disappears and when Dawn finally finds him he says he was someplace where he could stay cool *and* be within two blocks. Dawn is intrigued.
Since it’s hot in Stoney Brooke, Dawn goes in the barn to find a cool place to read. She ends up falling and finding a tunnel that leads underground to her house. Up a set of stairs, she comes to a wall that springs back and she’s standing in her own room. Exploring the tunnel further she finds an old coin, a belt buckle, and a key. Could a ghost be haunting the tunnel? (Umm, I really don’t think a ghost would have SOLID OBJECTS.)
There’s another storm and the electricity is knocked off. Dawn decides to show Jeff the passage. But this time there’s a nickel and the bottom of an ice cream cone inside. Then they hear a moan. Dawn and Jeff think the ghost wants his items back so she throws the nickel back downstairs.
Dawn calls her mom and she and her new boyfriend Trip-Man come home. Trip-man suggests they lock both entrances.
Dawn later finds a book her grandmother sent home about the history of Stoneybrooke. In it there’s a legend about the Murray family. The Mulrays eventually had to sell their house because they were in debt, but the oldest son (Jared) didn’t want to move and on the day they moved it was said his voice could be heard coming from between the house and the farm. Only when the house was searched no one was in it. After that, he just disappeared. Some said he still haunted the house. Dawn then thinls Jared is the one haunting her house.
She tells Maryanne and shows her the passage but the coin is gone. She finds some other things in the passage that weren’t there before (peanut shells, a book called Dog Tails).
On a hunch one day when the triples are being asses to Nicky she finds out that he’s been the one in the tunnel and the coins were his, and the food was his. Only there was a key found that he said wasn’t his. Dawn says he can come back and his parents ok this.
The BSC has a sleepover and Stacey and Dawn decide to get back at the others for making smores. They go into the tunnel and make all kinds of noises then reveal themselves. They then make plans for the rest of the summer.
There’s some unimportant sitting jobs thrown in. Kristy sits for Karen and she tells this tale about how a ghost turned old Ben Brewer crazy. Later they all get scared (David Michael, her, and Andrew) and they all end up in Kristy’s bed.
Claudia sits for Jamie Newton and he keeps making up excuses and won’t go to sleep. Stacey sits for Claire, Margo, Vanessa, and Nicky, and Vanessa and Margo use too much of a sample of shampoo in Claire’s hair and it won’t come out.
My Thoughts:
Interestingly enough I use to have dreams about finding secret rooms in different family houses. I think Dawn’s secret passage sounds perfect for solitude. I wondered a couple of things about this one. The most important one was if the coins and the food belonged to Nicky then who did the buckle and the keys belong to. He only said he *saw* them. He didn’t say they were *his*. Then what was up with Sharon dating all these different men AT THE SAME TIME? It named about four different men she was going out with. Sharon sure did get around.
Rating: 5
May 9, 2025
This was actually so cute and really took me back to middle school. Lots of hijinks with the girls searching for secret doors and scaring the shit out of each other for fun in Dawn's colonial-era house. I definitely remember that age, getting some perverse enjoyment out of scaring myself by looking at things that I knew would give me nightmares -- I loved books of scary stories just like Dawn did, psyching herself up to believe in ghosts, almost wanting there to be a ghost haunting her house. The cute makeup-party sleepover the girls had is also so accurate to that 12-13 year old age group.
We had a lot of side-drama in this book, some of which I enjoyed, others not so much. Dawn and Jeff's mom is dating this guy Trip and they were clowning on that loser so hard, which was funny, because Trip? Really?. The little interlude with Mary-Anne and the Perkins girls, Gabby and Myriah, was very cute. Even though Mary-Anne is sad that Kristy isn't next door anymore, she made new little friends and let them in on the secret of the bedroom windows. The drama with the Pike kids? F them kids, man. Nick is still mad that the triplets are excluding him, which is only a problem because he now has 'no one to play with' because he's decided that his sisters don't count as people and that it's somehow shameful and embarrassing to play with girls. Fuck you, kid. Play alone then! Yet another victim of the self-inflicted male-loneliness epidemic! Nicky sucks, he keeps running away to try to assert his dominance and prove to everyone he's just as mature as his older brothers, but really ends up proving how immature and untrustworthy he is by lying and abusing his freedom. Also, I thought it was cute that Fantastic Mr. Fox and Ramona and Her Father were mentioned, I remember loving those books -- Kristy reads these to some kids she's babysitting, and then tells these stupid-ass knock-knock jokes to them, and they promptly weirdchamp the fuck out of her, which she deserved for that lame-ass orange banana joke. (Also, holy shit someone get Karen away from me, I hate her! She's such a freaking liar, and I know it's supposed to be cute and precocious and imaginative, but she just gets on my nerves. Apparently she was so popular that Ann. M. Martin made an entire spin-off series with Karen, ugh. To be honest, the stupidest person here is Andrew, just for constantly believing her ass even though she's a known liar. She lies to him about everything all the time about things that are so easily verifiable, and he still falls for everything she says even though she's never right about anything. He's stupid, like 'special'-stupid. The worst part is that when she's confronted with her lies, she doesn't even skip a beat, like it doesn't matter when she's caught lying. She's exactly the right age to be a 40-year old Q-anoner in the 2020s with her Karen-bobcut. ((Also, why did Watson choose the one room in his house with a fireplace to be the kids' play-room, what the hell were you thinking, dude? Trying to get rid of Karen?)
Interesting note about this book -- it contains the first mention in this series about the rising cultural paranoia in the 80s surrounding stranger-danger, child kidnappings, molestations, etc. Even though statistics show that the majority of child abuse and pedophilia is committed by family members, (i.e., people who are in the home with the child and have access to them, and the trust of the child and the child's family), not strangers or a white-van or a daycare worker or whatever. All it took were a few high-profile cases that later turned out to be total fabrications that were blown out of proportion by the media to create a society-wide hysteria about 'satanists'. Even so, even during that period of paranoia, kids had a level of freedom that today's youth would find unimaginable. Times have changed so much, man. The first chapter of this book has Dawn and her little brother flying alone from Connecticut to California to visit their dad and watching adult movies like European Vacation.
(Also, surprise, even back in the 80s, the concept of the Disney Dad was alive and well. Dawn is even self-aware about it: "You know, two weeks with a guy who hasn't seen his kids in months and feels guilty, guilty enough to take time off from work and give them a whirlwind vacation of beaches, amusement parks, shopping, dinners in restaurants, movies, treats, surprises -- it's spectacular, except Disney Dad doesn't feel like your father anymore." Because he's not. He's not a parent to you anymore, he's moved on and is barely maintaining the facade anymore.)
Okay, main plot of the book: Dawn reads a book of scary stories and tries to find a secret passage in her house. There is a passage! Yay! But someone, a ghost?, is leaving stuff in it and scaring the piss out of here. Who is it!
I found it strange that when Dawn found the passage, she didn't immediately think about the Underground Railroad. That's where my mind went right away, especially since Connecticut was a really active state when it came to the UR. I mean, she's 13, going on 14, she would have learned about slavery in school at this point, maybe even going on multiple years by that point. But then, this is the 1980s; they certainly didn't teach the native american genocide and probably were light on slavery lessons too. Dawn starts imagining that somebody was locked in the passage as a prisoner to die, and that the house is haunted.
This book gives you just enough to create a bunch of different theories. Dawn finds a buckle, a key on a keyring, a metal button with shield imprinted on it, an indian-head penny, food trash, etc., and she keeps hearing this tapping noise -- for a while I thought it was an animal that got into the passageway, or someone else that knows about the passage and is scaring her on purpose, maybe her brother. Dawn's room is locked, so it has to be something getting in from the barn-side, and most of what she finds in there are metal objects, and food. So I thought it was a raccoon, but to be honest, I couldn't really see where this was going, and in the end, I didn't expect the history of the passage to just be some random made-up shit rather than .... an Underground Railroad passage! The Old Man Mullray story was probably supposed to be related to the Thrills and Chills book she's been reading. Y'know, those thriller-horror anthologies that are for 10-13 year olds. The Mullray story was so so silly; the fact that the younger son, who was a little bonkers, when they leave the farm, they're like, 'Come on! Get in the wagon!' and he's like, 'No, I'm not leaving', and they knew he's sitting in the secret passage with his arms folded, but they just shrug their shoulders and leave with the horse and never come back, You know they hated his ass. Why was I laughing so hard, they didn't even try to go get him, lmao.
It took me dumb-long to put together that the Nicky plot and the secret-passage plot were connected, and that Nicky running away meant he was playing in Dawn's secret passage without permission. Going onto another person's property and using it as your playground like that is crazy. He literally invaded their home with his little-ass, and he's fully aware that what he's doing is wrong, because he said he 'stops when he gets to the stairs because he doesn't want to trespass.' You're trespassing by going into the barn and into the passage at all, doofus! Talking about 'I didn't break the two-block rule' when he's invading someone's home, why is this any different than breaking into someone's garage or shed?
Also, what the fuck, so was the 'moaning' Dawn kept hearing just Nicky crying? For a minute I thought it was her mom feeling herself or something, but it's Nicky crying. Anyway, I hate Nicky, and fuck Karen. The end.
P.S. The sleepover in the last chapter when they were all saying movies they wanted to watch, and Mary-Anne wants Sixteen Candles, wtf, Mary-Anne! Freaking date-rape central up in here!
We had a lot of side-drama in this book, some of which I enjoyed, others not so much. Dawn and Jeff's mom is dating this guy Trip and they were clowning on that loser so hard, which was funny, because Trip? Really?. The little interlude with Mary-Anne and the Perkins girls, Gabby and Myriah, was very cute. Even though Mary-Anne is sad that Kristy isn't next door anymore, she made new little friends and let them in on the secret of the bedroom windows. The drama with the Pike kids? F them kids, man. Nick is still mad that the triplets are excluding him, which is only a problem because he now has 'no one to play with' because he's decided that his sisters don't count as people and that it's somehow shameful and embarrassing to play with girls. Fuck you, kid. Play alone then! Yet another victim of the self-inflicted male-loneliness epidemic! Nicky sucks, he keeps running away to try to assert his dominance and prove to everyone he's just as mature as his older brothers, but really ends up proving how immature and untrustworthy he is by lying and abusing his freedom. Also, I thought it was cute that Fantastic Mr. Fox and Ramona and Her Father were mentioned, I remember loving those books -- Kristy reads these to some kids she's babysitting, and then tells these stupid-ass knock-knock jokes to them, and they promptly weirdchamp the fuck out of her, which she deserved for that lame-ass orange banana joke. (Also, holy shit someone get Karen away from me, I hate her! She's such a freaking liar, and I know it's supposed to be cute and precocious and imaginative, but she just gets on my nerves. Apparently she was so popular that Ann. M. Martin made an entire spin-off series with Karen, ugh. To be honest, the stupidest person here is Andrew, just for constantly believing her ass even though she's a known liar. She lies to him about everything all the time about things that are so easily verifiable, and he still falls for everything she says even though she's never right about anything. He's stupid, like 'special'-stupid. The worst part is that when she's confronted with her lies, she doesn't even skip a beat, like it doesn't matter when she's caught lying. She's exactly the right age to be a 40-year old Q-anoner in the 2020s with her Karen-bobcut. ((Also, why did Watson choose the one room in his house with a fireplace to be the kids' play-room, what the hell were you thinking, dude? Trying to get rid of Karen?)
Interesting note about this book -- it contains the first mention in this series about the rising cultural paranoia in the 80s surrounding stranger-danger, child kidnappings, molestations, etc. Even though statistics show that the majority of child abuse and pedophilia is committed by family members, (i.e., people who are in the home with the child and have access to them, and the trust of the child and the child's family), not strangers or a white-van or a daycare worker or whatever. All it took were a few high-profile cases that later turned out to be total fabrications that were blown out of proportion by the media to create a society-wide hysteria about 'satanists'. Even so, even during that period of paranoia, kids had a level of freedom that today's youth would find unimaginable. Times have changed so much, man. The first chapter of this book has Dawn and her little brother flying alone from Connecticut to California to visit their dad and watching adult movies like European Vacation.
(Also, surprise, even back in the 80s, the concept of the Disney Dad was alive and well. Dawn is even self-aware about it: "You know, two weeks with a guy who hasn't seen his kids in months and feels guilty, guilty enough to take time off from work and give them a whirlwind vacation of beaches, amusement parks, shopping, dinners in restaurants, movies, treats, surprises -- it's spectacular, except Disney Dad doesn't feel like your father anymore." Because he's not. He's not a parent to you anymore, he's moved on and is barely maintaining the facade anymore.)
Okay, main plot of the book: Dawn reads a book of scary stories and tries to find a secret passage in her house. There is a passage! Yay! But someone, a ghost?, is leaving stuff in it and scaring the piss out of here. Who is it!
I found it strange that when Dawn found the passage, she didn't immediately think about the Underground Railroad. That's where my mind went right away, especially since Connecticut was a really active state when it came to the UR. I mean, she's 13, going on 14, she would have learned about slavery in school at this point, maybe even going on multiple years by that point. But then, this is the 1980s; they certainly didn't teach the native american genocide and probably were light on slavery lessons too. Dawn starts imagining that somebody was locked in the passage as a prisoner to die, and that the house is haunted.
This book gives you just enough to create a bunch of different theories. Dawn finds a buckle, a key on a keyring, a metal button with shield imprinted on it, an indian-head penny, food trash, etc., and she keeps hearing this tapping noise -- for a while I thought it was an animal that got into the passageway, or someone else that knows about the passage and is scaring her on purpose, maybe her brother. Dawn's room is locked, so it has to be something getting in from the barn-side, and most of what she finds in there are metal objects, and food. So I thought it was a raccoon, but to be honest, I couldn't really see where this was going, and in the end, I didn't expect the history of the passage to just be some random made-up shit rather than .... an Underground Railroad passage! The Old Man Mullray story was probably supposed to be related to the Thrills and Chills book she's been reading. Y'know, those thriller-horror anthologies that are for 10-13 year olds. The Mullray story was so so silly; the fact that the younger son, who was a little bonkers, when they leave the farm, they're like, 'Come on! Get in the wagon!' and he's like, 'No, I'm not leaving', and they knew he's sitting in the secret passage with his arms folded, but they just shrug their shoulders and leave with the horse and never come back, You know they hated his ass. Why was I laughing so hard, they didn't even try to go get him, lmao.
It took me dumb-long to put together that the Nicky plot and the secret-passage plot were connected, and that Nicky running away meant he was playing in Dawn's secret passage without permission. Going onto another person's property and using it as your playground like that is crazy. He literally invaded their home with his little-ass, and he's fully aware that what he's doing is wrong, because he said he 'stops when he gets to the stairs because he doesn't want to trespass.' You're trespassing by going into the barn and into the passage at all, doofus! Talking about 'I didn't break the two-block rule' when he's invading someone's home, why is this any different than breaking into someone's garage or shed?
Also, what the fuck, so was the 'moaning' Dawn kept hearing just Nicky crying? For a minute I thought it was her mom feeling herself or something, but it's Nicky crying. Anyway, I hate Nicky, and fuck Karen. The end.
P.S. The sleepover in the last chapter when they were all saying movies they wanted to watch, and Mary-Anne wants Sixteen Candles, wtf, Mary-Anne! Freaking date-rape central up in here!
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