Russ Badgett

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss.)

Molly and her younger brother Michael are having a rough year. First their mom gets remarried; they like their stepfather Dave well enough, but his seven-year-old daughter Heather is a pill. While it's true that she had a tragic childhood - she watched her mom die in a house fire, after all - Heather delights in making everyone around her miserable. She's spoiled, cruel, and enjoys making up stories about her new step show more family.

As if that's not bad enough, Dave and Jean are relocating the family from Baltimore to a renovated church in rural Holwell, miles away from their friends and academics. While their new home is quaint, even charming, not everyone is thrilled with the small cemetery housed in its back yard. The many ghost stories spawned by the graveyard - as well as nearby Harper House - set Molly's nerves on edge. Even creepier, Heather seems obsessed with the cemetery - particularly a long-forgotten, solitary tombstone that bears her initials: H.E.H.

Molly soon becomes convinced that Heather has befriended - or summoned - the ghost of Helen Elizabeth Harper, a young girl who also lost her family in a house fire over a century ago. But how can Molly save Heather from herself - and Helen - when the 'rents won't take her seriously, and Heather hates her guts?

WAIT TILL HELEN COMES is based on a 1980s middle grade novel by Mary Downing Hahn, so perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised that it skewed a little young for me. The story is engaging enough, though it wraps up a little neatly for my tastes. (The ending has a bit of that '80s after school special vibe.) The story is narrated by Molly, and I was hoping for an unreliable (or at least semi-reliable) narrator twist that sadly never materialized. The art's well done and complements the story nicely. show less

Wait Till Helen Comes, the graphic novel, is a spooky, atmospheric tale about a girl named Molly who moves with her family from Baltimore to a secluded church-turned house nestled in the country. Molly has no interest in the paranormal so when she discovers a hidden graveyard in the woods near her home, she wants nothing to do with it. And when her stepsister, heather, begins sneaking off to the graveyard, talking to someone named 'Helen', and generally acting strange, she wants no part of show more that either. It's only when Molly begins to fear for Heather's life that she faces her fear to save her family.

I loved this book. I love a good ghost story and this had it all. Creepy house, creepy graveyard, a trip to the library to research on a ghost. There were moments that were genuinely creepy and had me a little spooked. I would have loved this book as a child. All that being said, the parents frustrated the life out of me. I didn't like how they moved to this new house with the intention of having Michael and Molly babysit Heather while they worked. It seems unfair to put those parental responsibilities on children, especially when the child being babysat is noticeably struggling and defiant. I also disliked how Molly was blamed for literally everything when she obviously was not the one to blame.

Overall though, I really enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to reading more from this author! show less

I thought the story was well-written. But be prepared: the levels of gaslighting the main character Molly went through were frustrating and almost unbearable. You can imagine how isolating it would feel to be a child whose parents actively ignore their feelings. That was scarier than the ghosts or the little demon child Heather. That parental neglection will be relatable to some children though.

Wait till Helen comes is a modern classic that came out when I was still in middle school. I can remember us handing it around going “You have to read this” and read it I did. I was excited to see that these books are being made into graphic novels and enticing a whole new batch of kids into the dark and stormy world of Mary Downing Hahn. This story works much better than her novel “Took” in graphic novel. I’m not the biggest fan of the artwork. It seems a bit old-fashioned but show more overall, it works. While the graphic novel is wordy and heavy on the dialogue, the story is conveyed in such a way that you want to keep turning the pages I think the graphic novel is good, but the original book is better. show less