Promises to the Dead

A white boy helps a young black runaway slave to freedom in Baltimore City, in the most dangerous days of the Civil War.

Children's Books

Hahn, Mary Downing

Literature & Fiction

Harpercollins

Life on the farm is nothing like Baltimore!Anna is so excited when she finds out that she's spending a week on the farm with her aunt and uncle. She promises her mother she'll behave like a lady . . . but it's hard to do when she discovers there's a boy visiting, too. His name is Theodore, and he can't stand "stuck-up city slickers." Anna is determined to get back at him for all his teasing -- and show him a thing or two about what city slickers are really like!The heroine of anna all year round is back for more adventures!

Anna on the Farm

HarperColl

Guest: A Changeling Tale

From the master of spookiness, Mary Downing Hahn. When malicious sprites called the Kinde Folke snatch Mollie’s baby brother and replace him with a hideous changeling, Mollie travels through eerie, perilous lands to save him. When her adorable baby brother is replaced by an ugly, ill-tempered changeling, Mollie is determined to find the so-called Kinde Folke who took baby Thomas, return the changeling she calls Guest, and make them give Thomas back. Natural and magical obstacles and her own reckless temperament make her journey arduous and full of dangers, and a plot rich in surprises and twists makes this book a must-read for Mary Downing Hahn’s fans.

Clarion Books

The Puppet's Payback and Other Chilling Tales

<div>The author of wildly popular ghost stories, Mary Downing Hahn has created a group of tales for fans of her "scary but not too scary" books. Even the stories without actual ghosts are spooky.&nbsp;Each tale turns something ordinary--a pigeon, a white dress, a stranger on the bus, a puppet--into a sinister link to&nbsp;the supernatural.&nbsp;For the human characters, secrets from the past or careless behavior in the present can lead to serious trouble. All the stories have a young person as the central character, so all will resonate with young readers who enjoy the eerie, the creepy, and the otherworldly. In a&nbsp;concluding note, the author talks about how she came to write ghost stories.</div>

A family moves into an old abandoned house. Jules’s parents love the house, but Jules is frightened and feels a sense of foreboding. When she sees a pale face in an upstairs window, though, she can’t stop wondering about the eerie presence on the top floor—in a room with a locked door. Could it be someone who lived in the house a century earlier? Her fear replaced by fascination, Jules is determined to make contact with the mysterious figure and help unlock the door. Past and present intersect as she and her ghostly friend discover—and change—the fate of the family who lived in the house all those many years ago.

The Girl in the Locked Room: A Ghost Story

From the master of spookiness, Mary Downing Hahn. When malicious sprites called the Kinde Folke snatch Mollie's baby brother and replace him with a hideous changeling, Mollie travels through eerie, perilous lands to save him. 
When her adorable baby brother is replaced by an ugly, ill-tempered changeling, Mollie is determined to find the so-called Kinde Folke who took baby Thomas, return the changeling she calls Guest, and make them give Thomas back. Natural and magical obstacles and her own reckless temperament make her journey arduous and full of dangers, and a plot rich in surprises and twists makes this book a must-read for Mary Downing Hahn's fans. 
Mary Downing Hahn is one of the most popular middle grade authors in the world, winner of numerous state awards as well as the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction (for Stepping on the Cracks) and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award (for Closed for the Season).

Action & Adventure

The Thirteenth Cat

Product Description \nFrom master of middle grade horror Mary Downing Hahn, a new thriller about bravery, unexpected friendship, and sinister cats that will captivate readers with its chilling mix of mystery and magic.\nZoey loves spending the summer with her Aunt Alice, and her aunt's new house is the perfect place to cozy up with a good book. But she's unnerved by the overgrown forest next door, which is creepy even in the daytime and full of eerie sounds at night. Worse, there are rumors in town of a dark force in those woods. And Zoey can't deny that the wild black cats who live there seem to be watching her.\nWhen she encounters a mean old woman who claims to be their owner, Zoey realizes there's more to the cats than meets the eye. But little does she know that the closer she comes to discovering their secret, the more danger she's in . . .\nFrom School Library Journal 
Gr 3-7-Twelve-year-old Brooklyn, NY, native Zoey is spending her summer in Bexhill with her Aunt Alice when strange events start to occur. Zoey notices a pack of black cats, led by a long-haired white cat. They are all owned by the cruel yet fashionable Miss Dupree who is not pretty, but not ugly; not old, but not young. After a run-in with Miss Dupree, Zoey and her friend Lila are turned into cats. Lila and Zoey team up with Nia, another girl-turned-cat, to break the evil spell Miss Dupree has cast on them. This tale is creepy and reminiscent of Roald Dahl's The Witches. Readers will feel a sense of dread as the story comes together and they realize why the girls have been turned into cats. There is little character description, so it's up to the reader to imagine what Zoey and Lila look like. The ending is happy, but also sad; not everyone is saved, which makes the horror all the more effective. VERDICT This twisted tale would be good for older elementary students who love stories with magic, witches, and impending doom.-Maeve Dodds, Charlotte Mecklenburg Lib., NCα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 
 Review 
"Horror maven Hahn conjures up another heart-pumping read for the younger set that strikes the right balance between thrills and chills."— 
Booklist 
 About the Author \nMary Downing Hahn’s many acclaimed novels include such beloved ghost stories as Wait Till Helen Comes, Deep and Dark and Dangerous, and Took. A former librarian, she has received more than fifty child-voted state awards for her work. She lives in Columbia, Maryland, with a cat named Nixi.\nExcerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 
1 
Last fall, my aunt Alice moved from a Boston suburb to Bexhill, a small town in Vermont. For the first time she had enough space for me to spend my summers with her instead of going to camp. Mom was delighted. She knew how much I hated camp, but even though I was almost thirteen, she didn’t think I was old enough to spend my summers alone in Brooklyn while she worked. What could be better for me—and safer—than a summer in a small town? When we pulled into her driveway, I thought my aunt’s house was like something out of an old-fashioned kid’s picture book, almost too pretty to be true, with flowers, blooming vines, and shade trees. There was even a front porch with a wooden swing at one end. All that was missing was a cat curled up on a mat by the front door. I hadn’t been allowed to bring my cat, Suki, but I hoped to convince my aunt she needed a cat. I couldn’t imagine living without one. While we unloaded my luggage, I took a quick look at the neighbors on either side. On the right was a house similar to my aunt’s—what people call a Victorian cottage, with dormers and fancy wood trim. Aunt Alice’s house was yellow with blue trim, and the one beside it was blue with yellow trim. Sweet, I thought. What really caught my attention, though, were the woods on the other side of my aunt’s yard. The

Animals

What We Saw: A Thriller

A chilling murder mystery lies at the heart of&nbsp;this page-turning thriller about a missing teacher, small town secrets, and turbulent tween friendships from master of middle grade horror Mary Downing Hahn. When best friends Abbi and Skylar witness a clandestine meeting between a mysterious woman and someone in a dark van, they're thrilled. Finally, a mystery to spice up the summer! Who could these people be? Why are they meeting? Are they spies? Criminals? The two girls are determined to find out. But then a local woman goes missing and is found dead in the woods. And Abbi and Skylar realize that their detective work could hold the keys to solving her murder. Suddenly, sleuthing isn't so fun anymore. As tensions rise and their friendship frays, the girls find themselves in increasing danger, and must choose between keeping a secret or exposing a life-altering truth.

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Took Graphic Novel: A Ghost Story

About the Author\nMary Downing Hahn’s many acclaimed novels include such beloved ghost stories as Wait Till Helen Comes, Deep and Dark and Dangerous, and Took. A former librarian, she has received more than fifty child-voted state awards for her work. She lives in Columbia, Maryland, with a cat named Nixi.\nJen Vaughn’s work includes the Goosebumps: Download and Die! comics series and The Secret Loves of Geek Girls, as well as covers for My Little Pony, Pathfinder, The Wilds and more. She was also a longtime marketing director at Fantagraphics Books. Twitter: @TheJenya, Instagram: @thejenya. hauntedvaultstudios.com\nDaniel doesn’t believe the woods behind his new home are haunted by an evil witch and her terrifying beast. But then his little sister disappears . . . and it’s up to him to find her. This chilling graphic-novel version of Mary Downing Hahn’s popular page-turner will thrill readers who love spooky stories. 
They say that a ghost witch lives in the woods, up on the hill. They say her companion has a pig skull for a face and stands taller than a man, his skeleton gleaming in the moonlight. They say that the witch takes young girls, and no one ever sees them again. 
Daniel doesn’t believe the stories. He figures the kids on the bus are just trying to scare him since he’s new. Still, he wishes his family had never moved here—their house is a wreck, Mom and Dad keep fighting, and his little sister, Erica, spends most of her time talking to her creepy doll. 
But when Erica disappears into the woods one day, Daniel knows something is terribly wrong. Has she been “took”?\nFrom School Library Journal\nGr 4-8-This eerie graphic novel adaptation brings to life a tale of terror. When Daniel's family moves from Fairfield, CT, to Woodville, WV, they realize there is something off about the small rural town. The residents are a little rough around the edges, and the family's new house is in shambles. In addition to the decay, the property also has a dark past-the previous family's daughter vanished 50 years ago, and some townspeople say she was "took." Rumors of a long-deceased ghost witch (or "conjure woman") named Old Auntie and her devilish partner Bloody Bones frighten Daniel, yet his parents deny any mention of the tall tales. His younger sister Erica begins to hear voices beckoning her to the woods, and she takes to wandering off with her doll Little Erica. The stories say that Old Auntie kidnaps a child every 50 years, and one evening after a fight with Daniel, Erica goes missing. The narrative flows easily, and text and illustrations work together, resulting in a suspenseful read. Despite the overly digital quality to the artwork, it pairs well with the book, providing dreamlike, haunting, and at times horrifying qualities. Daniel and his family are white. VERDICT Middle grade readers will be thoroughly engaged by this terrifying graphic novel that blends folklore and mystery to create a moody treat for horror fans.-Claire Mooreα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Peterson, Scott

About the Author\nMary Downing Hahn’s many acclaimed novels include such beloved ghost stories as Wait Till Helen Comes, Deep and Dark and Dangerous, and Took. A former librarian, she has received more than fifty child-voted state awards for her work. She lives in Columbia, Maryland, with a cat named Nixi.\nJen Vaughn’s work includes the Goosebumps: Download and Die! comics series and The Secret Loves of Geek Girls, as well as covers for My Little Pony, Pathfinder, The Wilds and more. She was also a longtime marketing director at Fantagraphics Books. Twitter: @TheJenya, Instagram: @thejenya. hauntedvaultstudios.com\nDaniel doesn’t believe the woods behind his new home are haunted by an evil witch and her terrifying beast. But then his little sister disappears . . . and it’s up to him to find her. This chilling graphic-novel version of Mary Downing Hahn’s popular page-turner will thrill readers who love spooky stories. 
They say that a ghost witch lives in the woods, up on the hill. They say her companion has a pig skull for a face and stands taller than a man, his skeleton gleaming in the moonlight. They say that the witch takes young girls, and no one ever sees them again. 
Daniel doesn’t believe the stories. He figures the kids on the bus are just trying to scare him since he’s new. Still, he wishes his family had never moved here—their house is a wreck, Mom and Dad keep fighting, and his little sister, Erica, spends most of her time talking to her creepy doll. 
But when Erica disappears into the woods one day, Daniel knows something is terribly wrong. Has she been “took”?

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hahn, Mary Downing. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Hahn, Mary Downing

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hahn, Mary Downing. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Promises to the Dead

Anna on the Farm

Guest: A Changeling Tale

The Puppet's Payback and Other Chilling Tales

The Girl in the Locked Room: A Ghost Story

Guest: A Changeling Tale

The Thirteenth Cat

What We Saw: A Thriller

Took Graphic Novel: A Ghost Story

Took Graphic Novel: A Ghost Story