All the Lovely Bad Ones

Travis and his sister Corey can’t resist a good trick...so when they learn that their grandmother’s Vermont inn has a history of ghost sightings, they decide to do a little “haunting” of their own. Scaring the guests proves to be a great deal of fun...but before long the inn is filled with tourists and ghost hunters and the supernatural is closer than they think...and the ghost they pretend to be aren’t the only ghosts at Fox Hill Inn. What they believed were games has awakened something dangerous...something evil......something that should have stayed asleep. Restless...not at all friendly spirits soon invade every part of the inn. A dark and terrifying presence stalks the halls and the old oak grove on the inn’s grounds. show more To lay the ghosts to rest, Travis and Corey must first discover the dark history of Fox Hill and the horrors visited on its inhabitants years earlier. I was annoyed more than entertained by the antics of Corey and Travis but in spite of that the ghosts were good and the story was well worth 4 stars. show less

Not every Mary Downing Hahn book involves ghosts, but All The Lovely Bad Ones does.

Travis Donovan and his younger sister, Corey, have been sent to Vermont to stay at the Inn at Fox Hill, which belongs to their grandmother. Mrs. Elsie Donovan is pleased because she thinks the kids have chosen to spend their vacation with her instead of summer camp. The author wastes no time in letting us know why Travis and Corey aren't going to be at Camp Willow Tree. After reading what they did there, it's easy to understand why they think faking a haunting would be fun.

Their grandmother is a hardcore skeptic who tells them the inn has a reputation for being haunted only because she expects them to learn about it from the guests. Sure enough, there's show more a middle-aged couple staying at the inn who are hoping to see a ghost. Of the other two guests, one is a firm non-believer and the other is more open to the possibility. So is Tracy, the teenaged blonde who is both waitress and general helper to Mrs. Martha Brewster, the cook. Mrs. Brewster is a great cook, but rather sour looking. Her husband, Henry, is the handyman. He seems to wear a permanent frown, too. The Brewsters don't like the idea of Travis and Corey being around. They have good reason for that.

The kids' hoax takes in the Jennings, and soon the inn has three more couples who want to see ghosts. There are also guests who have no interest in having a supernatural experience. Too bad, because the inn really is haunted. The ghosts had been quiet the last few years, but now they're active again. Ms. Hahn has sincere believers as well as gullible ones, which was nice. I'm afraid that readers who would prefer their ghosts to be the kind that appeared in the earliest 'Scooby-Doo' shows should look elsewhere.

Ms. Hahn takes aim at ghost hunters with her Miss Duvall and her associate, Mr. Coakley. His hearse's license plate is worth a groan, as is his T-shirt, which makes a play on the most famous line from the 1999 'The Sixth Sense' movie. I particularly enjoyed the ghosts' verdict on the flamboyant duo.

The three most active of the 'shadow children' go too far with their mischief, but they're nothing compared to the ghost of a woman who hanged herself. Miss Ada was verbally and physically abusive in life and death has not improved her character. She's the kind who blames the victims for her abusive behavior. Make no mistake -- Miss Ada Jaggs is genuinely dangerous.

The Donovan kids are given three tasks to accomplish if they want to end the haunting. The third one is the hardest. That chapter has enough chills to delight ghost story-loving tweens and we adults who still enjoy children's books.

NOTES:

Chapter one contains the Fox Hill inn's entry in Haunted Inns of Vermont.

See chapter two for ghost stories told by Corey and others.

See chapter five for Travis' description of Miss Eleanor Duvall. The kids may be expected to be used to odd persons because they're from New York City, but they stare at her.

See chapter six for the description of Miss Duvall's associate, Chester Coakley. (The last line of the words on his hearse were probably inspired by this old Scottish prayer:

'From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!')

See chapter ten for the very informative pamphlet the children find.

See chapter fourteen for why Miss Jaggs' headstone has such an uncomplimentary epitaph.

Mrs. Brewster's exact relationship to one of the ghosts is spelled out in chapter fifteen.

Some of the shadow children mention dying of typhus in chapter 20. It's a real disease that should not be confused with typhoid fever. Typhus is thought to be what killed Anne Frank and her older sister in the Bergen-Belson Concentration Camp during World War II.

Dog lovers are out of luck, but for cat lovers, chapter 13 has a cameo appearance by a bookstore cat named Mog. show less

A deliciously, fast-paced mystery and horror tale. Two children spending the summer with their Grandmother at her Inn decide to have some fun by "haunting" the Inn. More successful than they know, they inadvertently arouse real restless spirits and unearth a mystery from the time the Inn served as the county poor house.

A little bit of horror, mystery and history, the children eventually learn the fate of real people sent to live at the poor house and who were at the mercy of the Jaggs, a brother and sister duo who pocketed the county money and mistreated the residents to the point of death.

I felt the ending should have involved the county making restitution to the dead by providing the grave stones, not the grandmother. There were show more unexplained occurrences such as Martha Brewster being able to "touch" the dead and the ghost children being able to use shovels to help dig up Ada's grave. But, it is a ghost tale, so I suppose anything is possible.

Spooky, but not nightmare scary. A good choice for middle school readers. show less

Honestly, this book lacked the usual charm Downing Hahn brings to the table. I never connected with the main characters because they were very boring and had no dimension aside from 'vaguely mischievous children'. Miss Ada was a pretty good villain, however! I liked that she did not get her redemption and instead was punished, but it was a low-energy climax. Like, why did the revenant/devil pop up out of nowhere to punish her? Why the hell didn't he punish her before!? I felt like Downing Hahn basically phoned it in for this book and used trite tropes in a very dull way.

Another thing that mildly irritated me were the shadow children. Yes, their deaths were horrible and the backstory was somewhat interesting, but they were fucking show more annoying (and I usually don't swear in reviews). I felt no attachment to them because all they did was cause trouble and apparently the author expects us to root for them? Nah. Nothing that was written made me want a good ending for them, even the children that had visible bodies. Especially Seth. Fuck Seth. show less

All The Lovely Bad Ones is a delightful YA story about a brother and sister who are sent to stay at their Grandmother’s country inn for the summer holidays. They read about the inn’s history, finding out it was once a community poor house, and also discover that it has a reputation for being haunted, even though their Grandmother firmly denies this.

Deciding that they should provide the guests with a ghostly apparition, they stage a pretend haunting, but to their horror they find that they have managed to awaken the ghosts and now must deal with the situation. Eventually they realize they are dealing with two types of ghosts, a group of small boys that were once under the care of an evil woman Ada Jiggs, who is the other presence.

The show more children vow to help the young ghosts by competing three tasks. First they must find Adas’ journal where she has entered the names of all the people she and her brother worked and starved to death and where they are buried. Secondly the young ghosts long for a headstone to mark both their and their families resting place. The most difficult task is the third one, to exorcise Ada.

The author keeps this story moving along at a good pace, supplies the appropriate amount of chills, and although geared for children, I found All The Lovely Bad Ones a very engaging read. show less

Author Mary Downing Hahn writes one great ghost story aimed at middle-grade readers after another. I'd already read Wait till Helen comes, The Old Willis Place: A Ghost Story, and The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall (The last is probably the scariest of the lot; I'm a grown woman and I had a bit of trouble sleeping!) All the Lovely Bad Ones ranks with the rest.

Mischievous siblings Travis and Corey Donovan stir up more than just trouble when they pretend to be ghosts at their grandmother's Vermont inn, which had a reputation for being haunted. I won't ruin the read by telling you more, but let me just say that you'll learn a lot about a rather unsavory part of American history.

Travis and his sister Corey are happy to be spending the summer with their grandmother at her Inn in Vermont rather than being sent to summer camp. They love pranks and having fun (which got them asked not to return to said summer camp). When they discover that the Inn has a reputation for being haunted, they decide to fake some ghostly activity. Their antics might scare up some extra business for their grandmother's Inn and also provide some fun for them. Little do they know that their foolishness will awaken real ghosts at the Inn and cause more fright than fun....

This book was a fun read!! The story line isn't that original. It's been done before many, many times, but I still enjoyed it. The kids thought they were going to have a show more great time scaring their grandmother's guests, but they ended up scared themselves. As a mom, that made me smile. :) The grandmother was a bit annoying at times. Even when faced with clear evidence her grandkids weren't behind the occurrences, she still pretty much refused to believe what she was seeing and hearing with her own eyes. But then again, if I experienced the same thing, I don't know that I would believe it either.

The book is written for middle grade children, but it's an enjoyable, afternoon read for adults, too. There are some scary events, but nothing age inappropriate. This would be a great story for kids to read on their own, or to have read out loud to them.

The cover art is deliciously spooky!! Love it!

My rating: 8/10
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