One for Sorrow

May 22, 2017
A 12-year-old grapples with friendships, vengeful spirits, and the Spanish Flu epidemic in Hahn’s (Took) chilling ghost story. In 1918, WWI rages but Annie Browne is most concerned about fitting into her new school outside Baltimore, the Pearce Academy for Girls. She meets Elsie Schneider on her first day, who proclaims the pair will be best friends, but no one at Pearce likes Elsie, labeling her a tattletale and liar. Annie, whose struggles with peer pressure throughout the novel are admirably complex, soon abandons Elsie for another group of friends, even joining in the teasing and name calling (Elsie’s father is German, which doesn’t help). When Elsie dies suddenly of the Spanish Flu that’s sweeping the city, Annie is both guilty and relieved—until Elsie returns as a ghost. If Elsie was a pest when she was alive, it’s nothing compared to her ghostly antics, which take a toll on Annie, who is sent to a convalescent home. Hahn’s story is characteristically steeped in eerie atmosphere, and the novel’s blend of historical drama, the supernatural, and the intricacies of adolescent friendship is a gripping combination. Ages 10–12.

May 15, 2017
Hahn's latest middle-grade ghost story brings the supernatural to the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic with all the disturbing force readers have come to love and dread.Uncomfortably thrust into the limelight as the new girl at the Pearce Academy for Girls in the fall of 1918, white, 12-year-old Annie Browne is nervous about making friends when she is approached by Elsie Schneider (also white), the schoolroom pariah who is shunned by the other girls as an obnoxious (and German) liar and tattletale. After a short while of dealing with Elsie's unpredictable moods, jealousy, and aggressive manipulation, Annie agrees with them and falls into the ranks of the more popular girls as they ruthlessly tease Elsie. When Elsie dies without warning in the 1918 outbreak of Spanish influenza, Annie is shaken by shock, guilt, and, eventually, fear when, after a sledding accident and concussion, Elsie's ghost appears to reclaim Annie's friendship and enact revenge. Compelled to say and do terrible things as part of Elsie's vengeful plan, Annie is sent away due to a "precarious state of mind," and if Elsie has her way, Annie will never return. For those looking to delight in the mirth of the macabre, look elsewhere. Hahn breaks the spell of girlhood frivolity to reveal a dark cycle of pain, fear, and casual cruelty with supernatural consequences. Another historical and chilling success. (afterword) (Historical suspense. 10-14)

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July 1, 2017

Gr 4-7-In September of 1918, Annie Browne moves to Mount Pleasant, MD, and begins attending an all-girls school. Well liked at her old school, Annie isn't prepared for the immediate derision her classmates, especially popular Rosie, direct at her after she's befriended by outcast Elsie Schneider. Elsie is considered a thief, a liar, and a tattletale, and Annie quickly agrees. So when Elsie is out sick for a week, Annie takes advantage of her freedom to make new friends. Soon Annie joins the other girls in bullying Elsie, both emotionally and physically. But when Elsie becomes a victim of the deadly Spanish influenza pandemic, her desire for revenge-and for Annie's friendship-doesn't die with her. While the historical aspects of the novel appear to be accurate, Hahn doesn't provide any reference materials, and her integration of period-appropriate cultural elements such as games, books, and rhymes becomes over-the-top toward the end of the narrative. In addition, with the exception of Annie's mother, every character remains convinced that Elsie deserves to be mistreated; readers may come away with the impression that the author condones bullying. On the upside, the scenes with the ghostly Elsie are fairly terrifying. VERDICT Readers seeking a scary story would be better served by Neil Gaiman's Coraline, while Gloria Whelan's Listening for Lions offers a much more compelling look at the Spanish influenza epidemic. An additional purchase.-Kaitlin Frick, New York Public Library

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2017
Grades 4-6 The Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 was no respecter of age, so it's no real surprise that it should have taken the life of 12-year-old Elsie Schneider. In life, Elsie had been a pest and, worse, a tattletale, liar, and thief. Clingy by nature, she had aspirations to be the best friend of Annie Browne, the new girl at school. But Annie resists her overtures and even joins a group of girls in teasing and picking on Elsie. But now Elsie has returned from the dead as a horrible specter. A pest in life, Elsie has become evil in death, determined to have her revenge and to make Annie her (shudder) best friend against her will, even if it means turning all of Annie's friends against her. Hahn is a veteran author who clearly knows her apples about writing ghost stories, as this, her latest inventive page-turner, evidences. She does an excellent job of creating mood and, in Annie and especially in Elsie, memorably complex characters. Shivers aplenty, but also genuine emotion that will invite empathy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2018
In 1918, sixth-grade new girl Annie is befriended by the clingy, awful Elsie Schneider. Then the Spanish influenza epidemic hits, and Elsie dies. Elsie's vengeful ghost hijacks Annie's voice and hurls insults at those who wronged Elsie. Hahn excels in atmosphere and mood, and Elsie's claustrophobic presence chills throughout. This unsettling ghost story adroitly incorporates the historical setting with themes of bullying and personal responsibility.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

May 1, 2017
When sixth-grader Annie enters a new school in the fall of 1918, she's understandably eager to make friends. Rosie is the most popular girl in class, but before Annie can approach her, the needy, clingy, awful Elsie Schneider (who is the main target of Rosie's ridicule) grabs her hand and announces, We're going to be friends, Annie Browne. I knew it when I saw you come through the door. Elsie smothers Annie, completely isolating her from the rest of the class. Only when Elsie misses a couple of days of school does Annie get a chance to become part of Rosie's group, fully realizing that the price she will pay is to join in the others' mocking and taunting of Elsie. Then the Spanish influenza epidemic hits, and Elsie dies. When Annie goes sledding near the cemetery and unwittingly bumps into Elsie's tombstone, it releases her vengeful ghost. Able to hijack Annie's voice and hurl insults at anyone who ever wronged her, Elsie insists that she will have the friend I wanted when I was aliveyou, Annie. As usual, Hahn excels in atmosphere and mood, and Elsie's claustrophobic presence chills throughout. Annie's helplessnessafter all, who will believe it's a spirit saying all those evil things?escalates the tension in this unsettling ghost story that adroitly incorporates the historical setting with the themes of bullying and personal responsibility. betty carter

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)