Amelia’s Author Study Mary Downing Hahn

Took Published- 2015 Took is about a family that moves into an old abandoned house. Daniel and his sister Erica don’t believe in the ghost story that a boy on the bus tells them about their new house. They start to believe in the story because Erica starts to hear whispers at night. One day Erica goes missing and Daniel wonders if it has to do with Autie from the story. Daniel tries to find his sister but when he asks people they just say she probably won't come back like the girl that disappeared that lived at their house years ago. Finally Daniel lifts the curse of Auntie and finds Erica and the girl that went missing before Erica.

All the Lovely Bad Ones Published- 2008 Travis and his sister Corey, go to stay with their grandma for the summer at her inn. They hear stories about how ghosts used to haunt the inn, but the ghosts haven’t been there for years. They decide it would be fun to play a prank and act like they were ghosts and say the ghosts are back. The prank works until the real ghosts come and ruin everything. Travis and Corey try to get the ghosts to leave. They start to talk to them and find out what they want. They say if they give them what they want, they will leave. Travis and Corey work really hard to do what the ghosts want. The ghosts are happy and they finally leave for good.

Deep and Dark and Dangerous Published- April 2007 Ali finds a picture in one of her mother’s old books. She recognizes her mom and her aunt Dulcie in the picture but she sees another girl torn out of the picture. She asks her mom about the picture. Her mom said that it was taken at the lake but she doesn’t remember the other girl. When Dulcie comes with her daughter Emma to Ali’s house she asks if Ali wants to come to the lake. Ali’s mother said she didn’t want Ali to go. She finally let Ali go and when they get there they meet Sissy, a mean girl at the lake. She wonders if she has to do with the girl in the picture. Sissy turns out to be the ghost of the girl in the picture.

About the Author Birthdate- December 9, 1937 Location- College Park, MD Awards- Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award, Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Facts - She was a librarian before she was a full time author. - She lives in Maryland and uses it as the setting for a lot of her books - She has 2 daughters

Characters Mary Downing Hahn writes a lot of the same type of book. So most of the characters are alike. Most of her main characters are teens or younger. They are usually brave and determined. I like the characters because they are interesting and exciting.

Universal Issues/Themes In all the books I read the issue was that there were ghosts, or people that got taken by ghosts. The main themes are death and courage because the ghosts are ruining things and the people try to help the ghosts. The families in these stories have courage even though people go missing and people die.

Author’s Writing Patterns All of her books are written in 3rd person but, they sometimes switch between 3rd and 1st person. All of her plots and storylines are ghost stories and they are focused on them. She writes almost all her books in the same style.

My Opinions I liked all three books that I read. They were all similar to each other because Mary Downing Hahn writes a lot of her books on ghost stories. They were interesting and made me want to read more of her books. There was nothing I really didn’t like.

Do I Recommend These Books? Yes I would recommend these books to someone. I would recommend it to people who like ghost stories or just a short book. I want to read more books by this author because I like her books. Some of her books have been turned into movies and I want to watch them.