Wait Till Helen Comes

Molly and Michael are trying their best to like their new step-sister, Heather. Since their mother married Heather's father, Dave, it seems all the 7-year old girl has done is try to cause trouble. When they move to live in an old church in rural Maryland, Heather is drawn to the nearby old cemetery and a dilapidated, burnt-out old house. Molly tries to tell everyone that Heather is in danger when she overhears her step-sister talking to someone in the cemetery. But, instead, Molly gets in trouble for scaring Heather with ghost stories. When Heather starts threatening that the ghost is going to come and make them all pay, Molly realizes she has to protect her step-sister. Will anybody listen to Molly about the ghost before it's too show more late?

After a lackluster experience with Hahn's The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall, I decided to try another of her stories. This time I was pleasantly surprised. Wait Til Helen Comes is a fabulously spooky middle grade ghost story. It was the perfect combination of ghost story and mystery. Just an enjoyable, eerie, afternoon read.

The ghost story is creepy, but not overly scary. The pacing of the story was great. The mystery unraveled just at the right speed to keep me reading, and wondering up until the very end. The story was spooky, but totally age appropriate for middle grade children.

If you like ghost stories, give this one a try! You won't be sorry!

My rating: 8/10
Some scary situations, but age appropriate
Ages 10 show less

In Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn, the theme of confronting fear is central to Molly's character, who struggles with insecurities and the frightening presence of her ghostly stepsister, Helen. Molly’s character development is important; she transitions from a fearful child to someone who learns to face her anxieties and empathize with others.
Hahn’s use of symbolism is significant in developing this characterization, particularly in how Helen represents unresolved conflicts within the family and the emotional struggles of the characters. As a ghost, Helen embodies the lingering effects of trauma and grief that Molly and her family face. Her tragic backstory reflects Molly's feelings of isolation and fear, highlighting the show more need to confront hidden emotions rather than allowing them to fester. Through Helen, the narrative emphasizes that addressing one's fears and acknowledging the past is essential for personal growth and healing. Many readers will connect with this, including me.
Personally, I connect with Molly's journey when reflecting on my own experiences with fear and the need to confront it. When I had to overcome a serious childhood illness, I also had a hard time understanding and confronting all the ways it impacted me. I was too young to notice how facing my fears was similar to Molly, but reading it as an adult, I can see why I was so obsessed with this book. show less

Heather Elizabeth Hill, spoiled and willful since her mother burned to death in a fire when she was 3, openly loathes her new stepmother, stepbrother, and stepsister. When her father and stepmother move the blended family from Baltimore to the lonely countryside in order to help matters, the tense family situation doesn’t improve at all. Instead, Heather discovers a century-old grave behind their new home with her same initials, H.E.H. — the grave for a girl who died at age 7, just Heather’s age — and the situation takes a turn for the worse.

Heather’s 12-year-old stepsister, Molly, had given up trying to befriend the conniving and deceptive Heather. But Molly now senses that Heather is in real danger from her new “friend” show more — a ghost named Helen Elizabeth Harper who perished, along with her entire family, after a mysterious fire broke out at her home in 1886. The family died in a fire, just like Heather’s mother…. Despite warnings, Heather stubbornly insists on spending hours at Helen’s grave and at the charred ruins of Helen’s old home and at the nearby pond. Heather wears an antique silver locket with the initials H.E.H. that she says Helen gave her. No one — not Molly’s mother or brother or stepfather — believes Molly when she insists that the family’s in danger from supernatural forces. Meanwhile, Heather keeps threatening, “Wait till Helen comes!” And then Helen does.

Although written for children, even adult readers will find themselves on the edge of their seats as the suspense builds and as they enjoy this masterful ghost story. As she proved with The Old Willis Place and the even more frightening The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall, author Mary Downing Hahn knows how to weave a chilling ghost story suitable for older elementary school-aged children, and she demonstrates that skill amply in Wait Till Helen Comes. You won’t be able to put it down until the final page. show less

This is another book I added to my to-read list solely because I really enjoyed Karen's review. The book looked intriguing enough, and it's one of those interesting children's books that never crossed my path when I was little. I was probably too busy reading Animorphs to give it the time of day. Swallowing my pride at being too old to read children's books, I happily picked it up recently and devoured it in a couple of hours of on and off reading.

Two irresponsible parents, Jean and Dave, decide to up and move to the country to pursue an artistic life. The children balk at this prospect, but have no say. Soon Michael, Molly, and their step-sister Heather, are living in a church far away from town with nothing to do. Luckily, the church show more has a cemetery attached to it. Heather, The Bad Seed incarnate, quickly discovers the child ghost that haunts the cemetery and decides to enact her revenge against Molly and Michael who like, totally don't get her. Meanwhile, the adults forgive every one of Heather's terrible behaviors. After all, her mom died in a fire when she was three so she's allowed to be awful.

The book is surprisingly thoughtful and powerful in its depictions of grief and the many different ways it manifests. Shame and hurt, the fear of rejection, all of them are portrayed well and ultimately with a level of compassion and understanding surprising for a kid's book. Likewise, the spooky factor was rather satisfying, and the actions the ghost takes against the kids is downright chilling.

This was a very cool, very powerful children's book. While it's not [book: A Monster Calls], it does bear a surprising amount in common with and is definitely worthy of respect. show less

Because it's supposed to more thoughtful & literate than a plain old ghost story... see all the awards!
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Yes, it is deeper than many. The target audience is totally justified to love it; even I would have back then.

Now there are bits that are terribly dated, and I don't mean just the use of a cassette player. Like Dave not taking Heather to therapy to help with her grief. And the extremely selfish parents who are only interested in their art, taking the kids away from their enrichment programs and then trying to make them by Heather's minders. And Mr. Simmons offering to teach "boy" (Michael) to fish, not even considering whether Molly might want to. And indeed, what's the difference between digging up Indian burial mounds and church show more graveyards?

But if you discuss those issues with your kids, I'd otherwise recommend you consider encouraging them to read this classic. It'll give them a lot to think about, for a long time. show less

Ok listen, from the perspective of an almost forty year old, this book is not superb literature. The parents are funky and way out of touch, Heather is a super brat, Molly and Michael are the only ones remotely with it, and everything wraps up hunky-dory in 90 minutes worth of speed reading. BUT...of all the thousands of books I read between three years old and my senior year of high school, this is one that made a huge impression on me. I can't count the number of times I read it and it still freaks me right out. This book helped me win Battle of the Books at the city level in the 5th grade. I've gotta give it 5 stars--for nostalgia, for fifth grade, for West Park Elementary School in Hermiston, Oregon, and for poor, long-suffering show more heroine Molly. show less

I fell in love with Mary Downing Hahn in the 90s, with Doll in the Garden and Time for Andrew. As fantastic as those are, they fall a bit short of Wait Till Helen Comes. It's possibly more of a young adult book because it is, simply, very scary! And so well written that it leaves most children's/YA books in the dust--or should I say in the grave? Here's the blurb:

Heather is such a whiny little brat. Always getting Michael and me into trouble. But since our mother married her father, we're stuck with her...our "poor stepsister," who lost her real mother in a mysterious fire. But now something terrible has happened. Heather has found a new friend, out in the graveyard behind our home--a girl named Helen who died with her family in a show more mysterious fire over a hundred years ago. Now her ghost returns to lure children into the pond...to drown. I don't want to believe in ghosts, but I've followed Heather into the graveyard and watched her talk to Helen. And I'm terrified. Not for myself, but for Heather.... show less