The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing Hahn

This is the latest installment from the author I seem to have craved since the spring. I think she is definitely an undiscovered treat for my students, as not many of them have read her books over the years. What a treasure trove for horror/mystery/ghost story fans. The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall doesn't disappoint and delighted me with a Bronte-esque feel to it.

In 19th century London, Florence is suddenly whisked away to the mansion of her wealthy Great-Uncle who has been looking for the orphan for years. Florence finds another distant and sickly cousin (think young Linton)living in the house along with an ill-tempered Great-Aunt (sister of the Uncle). Soon Florence finds out that James' sister, Sophie, died the year before from a fall and is haunting Florence for unknown reasons. In one of her most haunting novels yet, Hahn has captured both fear, illness and mystery in a most gothic tradition. Middle grade readers will be happy with the ending and my 6 year-olds were fascinated that there was "blood on the cover, Mommy." (part of the picture)

48 Hour Reading Challenge Update

With a very wide open Saturday, I am sorry that I didn't get in more reading hours. I spent many of them in a weird "funk." I was able to spend the following hours:

1.5 hours- Read/finished The Books of Elsewhere: Vol. 1: The Shadows by Jacqueline West: I loved the premise to the whole novel which was that Olive Dunwoody, after moving in to an old victorian with her geeky Mathematician parents, finds a pair of spectacles which allow her to go into the pictures hung about the house. She discovers early on that the pictures cannot, by any force, be moved off the walls. In the paintings, she discovers the "bad man" artist who painted all of the unmovable art in the house. The plot turns sinister when Olive's parents leave her alone overnight and she needs the help of the 3 talking cats to help her destroy the evil lurking around her. If you've read Teri Lesesne's book Reading Ladders, possibilities for ladders here are: The Graveyard Book, Beautiful Creatures and The Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink. I'm surprised I haven't yet read any reviews of this book as I found it fresh and creepy all at the same time. I will definitely recommend it to my students next year.

30 minutes: finished All The Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn. Another ghost story! This one has brother and sister Travis and Corey staying in grandma's B & B for a while and "waking" the haunting children who once lived and died on the property. There are many of these children/families buried in the back due to cruelty on the owners' part. The ghost children just want to be put to rest and Travis and Corey enlist the help of their grandmother to do that. Then, I fell asleep--napping--shouldn't read in my own bed. Too enticing.

12:30 a.m.-3:00 a.m.: Yes, I'm sure Mother Reader didn't have these kinds of hours in mind when she started the 48 Reading Challenge, but we had torrential downpours, thunder & lightning and flooding of the front yard (think old carpet rolls being flung onto the front lawn because husband's "friend" hasn't come to dispose of them like he promised) and garage (floating tennis shoes and old double strollers. Thank goodness the freezer is on a pallet). Needless to say, I couldn't get back to sleep so I read another Mary Downing Hahn novel: Deep, Dark and Dangerous. Ali is spending the summer with her aunt, Dulcie, and Dulcie's daughter Emma. There is a secret about why Dulcie and Ali's mom (sisters) won't talk about this old cabin that Dulcie has had refurbished after 30 years. A girl drowned while in a canoe with Dulcie and Claire 30 years ago and her body was never found. So, what connection is there between this drowned girl, Emma's new bratty friend who doesn't seem to have a home, and the destruction of Dulcie's artist's studio and all of her paintings? Another fascinating ghost story for kids!

Total Hours for Saturday- A disappointing 3.5 hours. More than a regular Saturday, though!

Crunch Time!

For anyone who reads this blog or just happens by occasionally, you know that I have serious lapses when it comes to crunch time at work and/or home. So, the end of the school year usually means that I am cramming to get that last minute genre study completed as well as chauffeur my three children around to various practices, games and camps. Oh yeah, and I decided to join TWO of my own tennis leagues this summer. 'Nough said. So, what have I been reading?????


Abby and I finished Hannah (Daughters of the Sea) by Kathryn Lasky. Hannah seems to be left behind at the Orphanage as a girl who will never amount to anything. By a fortunate happenstance, she is employed as a scullery maid for a very wealthy Boston family. While there, strange things begin happening to Hannah and a mysterious painter seems to understand all of them. When Hannah realizes her true connection to the sea, Lasky's language switches to an ethereal quality as Hannah is whisked off in the direction she is meant to go. While I had this one pegged at the start, my daughter was enthralled throughout the entire book. Hannah is a delightful character, and this novel will make you want to download some harp music.



And we're now heavily immersed in The Red Pyramid (of course). Rick Riordan seems to have done it again, but I truly have to brush up (or begin studying) my Egyptian mythology. However, the man does have a gift when it comes to writing action scenes. I can feel my own heart begin to pace and my voice gets incredibly fast while reading. Of course, these are our sacred read-aloud books even though my ten year-old daughter is blowing through books of her own.

Personally, I have been on a strange bout of ghost story books, mostly by Mary Downing Hahn. My favorite was Wait 'Til Helen Comes which was recommended on another book blog. Molly and her brother move to a country house with their mother, new step-father and strange, younger step-sister, Heather. Heather is obsessively drawn to the cemetery on the property and soon begins having conversations with "Helen" who doesn't like the way Heather's new step-siblings are treating her. Heather draws Helen out (in complete ghostly description)and is then manipulated by this young ghost. It is up to Molly to save Heather from the same demise that has taken the lives of other young girls who have succumbed to Helen's "wiles." Quite creepy for a YA book but it gives me more to recommend in a genre that students seem to ask for quite a bit. Now, if I could just find some more humor....