Literary Tourism - Maryland

One of my goals for the year is to revisit old, not yet completed goals. And so I return to traveling the United States through literature. Maryland is a state that I visited often in my childhood. I visited Annapolis, the Baltimore area, andthe D.C, suburbs. It is a great state.

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn

Molly and her brother Michael are struggling to adjust to life in a blended family.  They feel like their younger stepsister, Heather, is moody and intentionally difficult.  Their mother and stepfather keep reminding them to treat her gently because she witnessed the death of her mother by fire.    They are less than excited to be forced to move from their row house in Baltimore to a renovated church in the country.

Molly is disgusted to discover that the property has a graveyard, but Heather is fascinated with it.  She discovers a gravestone with own initials.  Molly fears that Heather's obsession with the gravestone might have ghostly consequences and sets out to save her.

This book has a decent sense of geography.  The author spends time time contrasting life in the Maryland countryside with life in Baltimore.  It helps that the author lives in Maryland.  I was disappointed that Holwell, Maryland is merely fictional.

This is a light, horror story for children, thus not a masterwork of literature.  Molly seems to have adult tastes like reading Emily Dickinson and Shakespeare.  The parents' characters are underdeveloped and maddening at times.  Besides the characters, the plot is well-developed and spooky.  If you are looking for a light read or an appropriate "scary" story for a child, this is a good choice.