Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn

Summary
Heather is not an easy stepsister to live with. She lies, tattles, and is downright mean. Molly and Michael's mom has a new husband Dave, and things go from bad to worse when the adults move the family to a refurbished church in the middle of nowhere. Heather becomes obsessed with a tombstone in the way-too-close-for-comfort graveyard behind the church where they live. Heather befriends the ghost of a small child whose mother died in a fire, just as Heather's did, and Molly must make a tough choice: save the girl who she despises, or let the ghost lead Heather to her death.

Analysis
Mary Downing Hahn has created an ideal and believable setting for a ghost story. The setting for this book is an abandoned church, with a graveyard in the backyard, and a half-burned dilapidated house down the street. These are the perfect places for a ghost to be, and the reader easily becomes one with Molly the narrator. Hahn's choice of words to describe the setting adds credibility to the story and she does an excellent job of blending fantasy with reality.

For example, when Hahn is describing the destruction that the ghost Helen has done to the house, Molly notices a message scrawled on the wall. As soon as Molly reads the message, "I have come. H.E.H." the words fade away into nothing. (page 128) At this point in the story the ghost has yet to actually show itself, so even though the reader has no proof that the ghost exists, the reader believes Helen exists and never questions Molly's sightings.

Hahn's plot is made more credible and believable by the the mystery surrounding the death of Helen's mother. The reader comes to despise Heather, just as Hahn wants us to, and she creates a common thread between Heather and Helen by way of how they lost their mothers. Hahn successfully keeps the reader guessing as to how Heather's mother really died, and leads the reader on a journey of discovery throughout the book. By revealing the details of Heather's mom's death in the way that she does, Hahn gives the reader new insight and empathy for Heather's behavior.(page 163)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It's been a long time since I have read a mystery, and this book kept me turning the pages very quickly! I hated Heather right along with Molly and Michael, and hated how they were both blamed for everything Heather ever did! I grew angry at the mother in the book for not sticking up for her own two children more often and telling her husband, Dave, to back off! But just like Molly, I end up feeling sorry for Heather in the end of the book, and was glad that Molly saved her.

This book is appropriate for 5th graders and up.

Key Words
misunderstanding, trespassing, cherub, exasperated, poltergeist, extrasensory perception