The Girl in the Locked Room by Mary Downing Hahn - ADVISABLE

The Girl in the Locked Room by Mary Downing Hahn, 193 pages. Clarion (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), 2018, $17.

Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: G

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS – ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL:  HIGH

13yo Jules is dragged from place to place so her dad can restore old buildings. While not happy about being uprooted constantly, their new destination, Oak Hill seems immediately foreboding to her. Jules and her family sleep in a new addition built to the side of the house, where Jules thinks she sees something in the upstairs window of Oak Hill.  

The chapters alternate between Jules’ story and that of a lonely girl who has been in the house for over 100 years.  Gradually their stories begin to creepily intertwine. 

Hahn has done it again with a ghost story that is, as Goldilocks would say, “Just right.”  It’s a cool page-turner that should appeal to young readers.  I liked how the chapters gave different perspectives from two different time periods. I couldn’t put it down till I finished. 

Michelle in the Middle, Teacher