Wait Till Helen Comes

I remember reading The Dollhouse Murders. I was in junior high. I suppose I was feeling a bit nostalgic when I picked this out among the juvenile lit section. That and I wanted to be scared. Just a little, you know? I'm not sure this did the trick. In fact, if I think about it, I wonder if I've outgrown that whole getting scared of ghosts and goblins and things that go bump in the night. That makes me a little sad to think a part of my childhood and even young adulthood has changed so much that I don't even really believe in ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night. Alas...here is my review.

Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Oh some days don't you wish were twelve again? Well, probably you don't, at least if you were like me. I was awkward and chubby and had all sorts of acne. Puberty is a biotch!

BUT...I remember my love for little gems such as Wait Till Helen Comes. Don't you love ghost stories? I love a ghost story. I love getting a little thrill from being afraid of what may or may not be lurking around the corner or in the dark. Not because I believe in ghosts, mind you. I sort of really scoff at the idea. Most of the time. But a little part of me still believes in them when I'm all by myself in the house, and I'm reading a tale like this. Maybe, just maybe, a little ghostie will reveal itself to me at times like that. And it makes me shutter just a bit.

Even if the story is totally juvenile and full of logical holes and such. Maybe it's just fun to believe it for a minute, if only for the thrill. And that is probably why today I wish I was twelve again. This story would have scared the pants off me then. But today, at my age, well, it gave me a chill here and there. I did hide the cover when I put it next to my bed. I mean, who wants to look at a ghost of a dead little girl who is allegedly haunting other little girls whilst she drifts off to sleep? Not this girl! It's creepy!

The story goes something like this. Molly and Michael have a new little step-sister, Heather. And Heather, a troubled child who is hiding a dark secret of her own, makes friends with a ghost. Heather goes so far as to threaten her new step-siblings with vengeance wrought by none other than her new found pal and specter, Helen. Michael, a child with a penchant for science, doesn't believe. But Molly is convinced that Heather is possessed by something dark and harmful. She wants to protect Heather, but will she be able to as long as Heather keeps tormenting the family and causing trouble for her new siblings?

It's a fun little story, especially for the younger set. Not sure I'll pick up another juvenile ghost tale, at least for the time being. But it was fun, for a moment, to revisit my twelve-year-old self and feel a little bit spooked out by the possibility of a haunting.

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