The moral of this coming of age story is 'Be careful what you wish for.' ( )

I read this book back when I was in middle school and I remember thinking it was pretty scary, but loving it nonetheless. ( )

The moral of this coming of age story is 'Be careful what you wish for.' ( )

a light quick read, this is definitely meant to be a children's book. The theme is that things are not always as they appear, and just because someone told you so, don' t make it so.

Yet another effectively spooky book from Mary Downing Hahn. Readers can count on well-drawn characters and realistic relationship problems. Sometimes I think there's a bit too much divorce and childhood angst in Hahn's books a la Judy Blume. So many authors have been influenced by Blume. The problem is that the angsty reality often seems like the books these supernatural writers are writing use the supernatural fantasy genre as a way to get a bit preachy and thus detract from the supernatural aspect, which should be equal to the reality-based part of the story. Still, I really do admire Hahn and will give the best writers for tweens in this genre a pass. But not all of the authors of the genre will get the pass.

From the back cover:
It is the middle of the night and suddenly Laura is awake, trembling with fear. Just beneath her bedroom window, a strange-looking old woman is standing in the moonlight. A big black crow is perched on her shoulder and she is looking up--staring back at Laura. Her name is Maude, and people say she's a witch. The old woman claims she was a friend of Laura's grandmother and wants to do something nice for Laura. If Laura visits her and brings the three things she needs to cast a spell, Laura's fondest wish will come true. With her heart pounding, Laura follows the dark path to a ramshackle old cabin deep in the woods. Little does she know she is beginning the most terrifying journey of her life. ( )