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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Annie Browne transfers to a new school and is afraid she won't make friends. On the first day, outcast Elsie latches on to Annie and insists they be best friends. Except Elsie is not the kind of friend Annie wants. She lies and tattles and is super possessive and mean. When Elsie gets sick Annie becomes friends with the other girls in her class and they ostracize Elsie when she returns. The girls are bullies to Elsie and each other. When the Spanish Flu hits their town they start attending funerals for the sweets and cakes. One day they end up at Elsie's funeral without realizing it. Then after an accident in the graveyard Elsie starts haunting Annie. She makes her do and say things she doesn't want to do and her family thinks she is going crazy. So Annie ends up in a convalescence home where Elsie continues to wreck havoc. Luckily Mrs. Jameson is one of the residents and has experience with ghosts. She helps Elsie move on.
I disliked all the girls in this book so much that I thought they deserved to be haunted. They were all bullies and mean beyond the typical way girls are mean to each other. Annie may not have meant to be mean but she never hesitated to join in the games the other girls thought up. Everyone was thoroughly unlikeable and I wouldn't have finished the book if it hadn't been an award nominee.
I disliked all the girls in this book so much that I thought they deserved to be haunted. They were all bullies and mean beyond the typical way girls are mean to each other. Annie may not have meant to be mean but she never hesitated to join in the games the other girls thought up. Everyone was thoroughly unlikeable and I wouldn't have finished the book if it hadn't been an award nominee.
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This author used to hold a special place in my heart but now... no. Her ghost stories are lacking nowadays. None of these characters are good, the group of mean girls are actually horrible. They are horrible about Elsie dying and actually make fun of it? The actual ghost story was lackluster at best and nothing really happened.
Mary Downing Hahn does it again with another spooky ghost story. Annie Brown has just moved to Philadelphia as the end of World War I is nearing and the country is facing a possible Spanish flu epidemic. Annie meets Elsie in class and Elsie immediately claims Annie as her best friend. The other girls in class don't like Elsie and by extension, they don't like Annie. Plus, Elsie is weird and possessive of Annie and wants everything that Annie has - her nice house, her nice parents, her nice toys and books. When Elsie becomes ill, Annie has a chance to escape and makes friends with Rosie, the most popular girl in school and always picks on Elsie. With Rosie as her new best friend, Annie begins to enjoy her school life, though she feels a little guilty when Rosie and her gang, including Annie, pick on Elsie. After a prank gone wrong and Elsie dies from the Spanish flu, Annie feels as if something is off and soon discovers that Elsie is back from the grave, haunting her and making her the most hated girl in school. This clearly shows the ways children suffer from bullying and how easy it is to accept bullying to be accepted within one's friend group at school. I think there are scarier Mary Downing Hahn books out there but this one is still pretty terrifying.
Listened as audio book. Could have been shorter and felt like it was repetitive in places. Not scary or spooky.
I have to admit this was not really my kind of book, but beyond that, I found it a little over the top and annoying. Some of it was quite scary and disturbing, and sensitive kids might want to stay away from this one. On the other hand, the historical part was interesting, and I loved that the author was inspired from her mother's personal history.
I received a copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
One for Sorrow is an old school horror story with a ghostly theme. The story opens with cruel children, and by that I mean tinged with Shirley Jackson-levels of meanness, taunting Elsie, a German-American girl during WWI, just before the infamous Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918. The meanness of these little girls, which is quite heavy-handed, spurs Elsie's lingering ghost status, after she succumbs to the flu due to misadventure, because of the mean girls. The protagonist of our story, Annie, is eventually quite remorseful, due to her being haunted and her recognition of her former status as a decent, kind little girl. I'd have to say that there were not many likeable characters here. Even Jane, a sweet child, was all too easily peer-pressured into cruelty.
This book felt oddly written in terms of language and style for the period. While the author clearly anchored the time period with WWI and Woodrow Wilson, I felt the language and manners were not very typical of the period. People simply didn't speak this way, especially not children to adults, in this era. Little girls wandering on their own or in groups, out in public, without an older child, seems very out of character for the time, unless the town was very small. Likewise, the rather sketchy attention to dress, interiors, and even Annie's father's car was peculiar. (Cars were still an unaffordable novelty for many in 1917. Why no model, color, description?) There was a pronounced lack of detail. I'm not sure whether the author was worried that descriptive information would weary middle grade readers, whether she was exclusively focused on the child's perspective, ignoring pertinent details, or whether she simply didn't research the period in depth. Given the dialogue, I wonder if it was more of the latter.
It isn't a bad ghost story. But I wish it had been a richer one.
One for Sorrow is an old school horror story with a ghostly theme. The story opens with cruel children, and by that I mean tinged with Shirley Jackson-levels of meanness, taunting Elsie, a German-American girl during WWI, just before the infamous Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918. The meanness of these little girls, which is quite heavy-handed, spurs Elsie's lingering ghost status, after she succumbs to the flu due to misadventure, because of the mean girls. The protagonist of our story, Annie, is eventually quite remorseful, due to her being haunted and her recognition of her former status as a decent, kind little girl. I'd have to say that there were not many likeable characters here. Even Jane, a sweet child, was all too easily peer-pressured into cruelty.
This book felt oddly written in terms of language and style for the period. While the author clearly anchored the time period with WWI and Woodrow Wilson, I felt the language and manners were not very typical of the period. People simply didn't speak this way, especially not children to adults, in this era. Little girls wandering on their own or in groups, out in public, without an older child, seems very out of character for the time, unless the town was very small. Likewise, the rather sketchy attention to dress, interiors, and even Annie's father's car was peculiar. (Cars were still an unaffordable novelty for many in 1917. Why no model, color, description?) There was a pronounced lack of detail. I'm not sure whether the author was worried that descriptive information would weary middle grade readers, whether she was exclusively focused on the child's perspective, ignoring pertinent details, or whether she simply didn't research the period in depth. Given the dialogue, I wonder if it was more of the latter.
It isn't a bad ghost story. But I wish it had been a richer one.
In our school district, kids are required to read a book from every genre. This is a great option for kids that like scary horror novels who need to read a historical fiction genre book. Also great for reluctant readers who are looking for a scare!
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes