Mary Downing Hahn
Author of Wait Till Helen Comes
About the Author
Mary Downing Hahn grew up in College Park, Maryland. After graduating college, she worked as an art teacher, a college instructor, and a children's librarian in Prince George's Public Library System. She published her first novel, The Sara Summer, at the age of 41. Since then, she has been a show more full-time writer and averages one book a year. Her ghost story Wait till Helen Comes was the winner of 12 state children's book awards and she received the Scott O'Dell award for her World War II novel Stepping on the Cracks. She currently lives with her husband in Columbia, Maryland. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Mary Downing Hahn. 2009 Baltimore Book Festival. ©2009
Series
Works by Mary Downing Hahn
Associated Works
Bruce Coville's Book of Monsters II: More Tales to Give You the Creeps (1996) — Contributor — 113 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1937-12-09
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- College Park, Maryland, USA
Columbia, Maryland, USA - Occupations
- librarian
Members
Discussions
YA book, AR book, Fiction, two girls working together to write a story, set in the US in Name that Book (August 2010)
Reviews
Anna All Year Round by Mary Downing Hahn
I guess I start a dnf shelf now? This book would have been interesting if I was family but as it was it was just a collection of stories of someone I didn’t know. They gave a small glimpse into what life was like, but not like the classic children’s historical fiction such as Little House, Lois Lenski books or Ralph Moody. For that reason it isn’t worth my shelf space as there are simply better books out there.
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 heroine Molly.… (more)
Amazing writing, but the plot progresses horribly. Bland characters. Melodramatic. Unrealistic.
Every time a Mary Downing Hahn book crosses my path, I wish I had read it when I was little. So I took this one home and read it last night. Enjoyed it quite a bit, actually! I had a few quibbles with the grammar, but I will recommend this book to youngsters at my store. It is spooky but not really "scarey."
Lists
Edgar Award (1)
Elevenses (1)
1800s: America (1)
Gateway Horror (10)
Female Author (1)
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 49
- Also by
- 5
- Members
- 15,634
- Popularity
- #1,453
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 627
- ISBNs
- 461
- Languages
- 10
- Favorited
- 18