Taking her title from a poem by James Whitcomb Riley, veteran author Hahn spins a deliciously spooky tale about restless spirits haunting the site of a former Vermont poor farm. Travis and his little sister Corey are confirmed "bad ones"--so bad, in fact, that their summer camp won't let them come back, so they find themselves this summer at their grandmother's rural inn. When they learn of its supposedly ghost-filled past, they decide to play a prank or two, but in the process they wake both the mischievous long-dead children and the malevolent woman who supervised the children of the farm. Soon the inn swarms with spiritualists hoping for a genuine sighting, much to the dismay of its skeptical proprietor. This clash of cultures allows Hahn to leaven the chills of the ghost story with generous dollops of humor, resulting in a tale that keeps the creepiness factor within reasonable bounds for the audience. Believable characters, both live and undead, and a classic resolution make this a highly satisfying introduction to the genre. (Fiction. 9-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Hahn has mastered the art of the not-too-creepy ghost story for upper-elementary-school readers, and this latest offering combines chills, thrills, and poignant historical fiction. Twelve-year-old Travis and his younger sister, Corey, are spending the summer with their grandmother at her Vermont bed-and-breakfast. Born mischief makers, the siblings hear that the inn is rumored to be haunted and decide to manufacture some ghostly effects for the guests. Unfortunately, they arouse the real ghosts: young boys who died in the early 1800s, when the property was the county poor farm, and Miss Ada, the evil spinster who caused their deaths. The rambunctious young ghosts cause a lot of ruckus, but they are ultimately endearing beings, whereas Miss Ada is deliciously horrible. Readers will learn about the history of poor farms while reveling in the genuinely creepy hauntings Hahn describes so well. The truly scary cover may deter some readers; reassure them this title belongs to the same comfortably spooky genre as The Doll in the Garden (1986) and Wait till Helen Comes (1989).--Carton, Debbie Copyright 2008 Booklist

Ghost story veteran Hahn (Deep and Dark and Dangerous) spins another novel filled with things that moan and creek in the night. In an old, reputedly haunted bed and breakfast in the woods of Vermont, the chandeliers swing seemingly at random. The lights blink on and off, the radio zips through its stations at top volume, and "shadows race around the walls, laughing and taunting [guests] with insults relating to the size of [their] rear end[s]." What sets this apart from a run-of-the-mill spooky tale is not simply that the protagonists, 11-year-old Corey and 12-year-old Travis, have provoked the dead by faking a haunting, but that they then feel obliged to help resolve the spirits' problems and lay them to rest, no matter what the cost. When Corey and Travis discover the inn was an poorhouse in the 19th century, and that the ghosts that now roam its corridors were children who died there at the hands of abusive owners, readers might be inspired by Hahn's colorful historical investigation to learn more about what actually happened during those times. In addition to crafting some genuinely spine-chilling moments, the author takes a unique approach to a well-traversed genre. Ages 9-12. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(Intermediate, Middle School) Travis and his sister Corey love to make mischief, so a summer's stay at their grandmother's reputedly haunted Vermont inn holds much promise. A flashlight, makeup, a filmy white scarf, and some well-timed screams allow the kids to freak out the other visitors, but soon enough the game isn't funny: "You and your sister may have begun this as a game," says one of the guests, "but the ghosts are awake now. Putting them back to sleep will not be easy." Hahn expertly combines the comedy of spectral hijinks and bumbling ghost-busters with a dark backstory of abused children and the malevolent guardian who torments them even in death. Here's an author who really understands how to put a scary story together, unafraid even to use an appearance by Old Nick himself for an extremely satisfying finale. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

RULE No. 1: Life is not fair. At least if you live inside a Meg Cabot novel it isn't. And sometimes it's SO not fair, you can't BELIEVE how unfair it is. AT ALL. Meg Cabot, chronic capitalizer and reigning grande dame of teenage chick lit, has too many best-selling series to keep track of - there's the reluctant princess in the "Princess Diaries" books, the reluctant communicator with the dead in "The Mediator," the reluctant national hero in "All-American Girl," and so on (at last count Cabot, at age 41, has 54 books out, a handful of them geared for grown-up girls). As far-ranging as her concepts may be, they all introduce some life-changing event then circle back to the supreme "I want my normal life back" injustice of it all. Cabot's books are quick-paced romps that take one night to read and, apparently, not much longer to write. In addition to regularly updating her blog with detailed posts, she has said in interviews that she writes five to 10 pages a day, turning out roughly a book a month. More unbelievable, though, is that the work holds up. While legions of Meg Cabot imitators get waylaid by brand-name this and "Oh my God" that, Cabot's voice remains fresh. She favors the spill-the-beans-as-you-go style common to teenage fiction, but her material has a spirited fizz that's lacking in many so-called young adult comedies. Makes sense, then, that she's trying her hand at books for younger readers. In the first installment of "Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls," her new middle-grade series for Scholastic Press, Cabot has dialed back her tic of randomly capitalizing every fourth word (she's switched over to italics), the boy-craziness and the out-there premises. The only wild thing happening to 9-year-old Allie Finkle is her parents' decision to move from their perfectly nice new house in the suburbs to a Victorian fixer-upper that "looked very big and creepy sitting there on the street. All the windows - and there were a lot of them - were dark and sort of looked like eyes staring down at us." Worse still, Allie's going to have to leave behind her slightly, annoying best friend, Mary Kay Shiner; her geode collection; and her cozy elementary school. It's up to Allie, an aspiring Veterinarian who's not above burping or smashing the occasional cupcake in a deserving classmate's face, to figure out a way to win the war against moving across town. To keep herself grounded in this ever-befuddling world, Allie has started writing down the rules for everything. Not the rules for science and math, which she gets. But the protocol for life's more elusive bits. "There are no rules, for instance, for friendship. I mean, besides the one about Treat your friends the way you'd want them to treat you, which I've already broken about a million times." Allie's newly learned rules, like "Don't stick a spatula down your best friend's throat" and "Don't put your cat in a suitcase," serve as the book's chapter titles, and the cheerful yellow and salmon book jacket opens up, Adventcalendar style, to reveal lines where readers are encouraged to write their own rules. WITH nothing but these rules serving as the book's gimmick, the story has a looser feel than a typical Cabot novel. The structure suits this age group, mirroring the timewarp experience of childhood itself. One minute Allie is playing dollhouse with a friend ("I suggested that the baby doll get kidnapped and a ransom note, including the baby doll's cut-off ear, get sent to the house by the glass dolphin family") and the next she's fantasizing about what awaits her in the attic of her new house ("The disembodied hand had lived in the attic in that movie I had seen! ... Green, glowing and so scary!"). The tale hums along entertainingly, then takes an unexpected turn when our heroine finds herself on a disastrous play date. Mary Kay Shiner and Brittany Hauser show Allie what their game "lady business executive" entails (hint: it has to do with the "Don't put your cat in a suitcase" rule). Allie handles the situation with aplomb, and her moxie only increases a few scenes later, at the Lung Chung restaurant, where she comes to the aid of an imperiled snapping turtle named Wang Ba. Though its tone is slightly younger than Cabot's books for teenagers, "Moving Day" still brims with vintage Cabot humor and inventiveness. There's the heroine's absurd swirl of know-it-all-ness and cluelessness ("I am older than Mary Kay by a month. Possibly this is why I don't cry as often as she does, because I am more mature. Also, I am more used to hardship, not being an only child") and the droll details that are effortlessly tossed off, like the little brother who dreams of having a bedroom with velvet wallpaper and the boy who gives Mary Kay this charming birthday card: "Too bad Allie's moving, now you'll have no friends at all Happy Birthday!" Cabot is under contract with Scholastic for five more books in the series, though it's unlikely the franchise will stop there. This is an author who can write sequels in her sleep. That's not a rule. More like a law of nature. 'Too bad Allie's moving, now you'll have no friends at all. Happy Birthday!' Lauren Mechling is the author of the novel "Dream Girl," which will be published in July.

Gr 4-7-Mary Downey Hahn's story (Clarion, 2008) involving two prankster-playing siblings, Travis and Corey, takes a dark turn when their efforts to help their grandmother's newly acquired Vermont Inn lead to trouble. The Inn had a history of ghost sightings until recently, and disappointed guests are not returning. The siblings, who are spending the summer at the Inn, decide to help out by pretending to haunt the grounds. But soon they are seeing dangerous spirits themselves and life at the Inn is so unsettled that everyone is terrified. They develop a relationship with three of the ghosts-Caleb, Ira, and Seth- who died as the result of the ill treatment they received when the Inn was a work farm for destitute people, mismanaged by Miss Ada and her brother. Many of the ghosts are the lost children who were buried in secret and have no grave markers. What's worse, Miss Ada, who hanged herself, continues to terrorize the children in death. Since Travis and Corey awakened these spirits with their prank, it is now up to them to resolve things, save the Inn, and make sure their new friends find the peace they deserve. Jeffrey Cummings gives both siblings distinctive voices and catches their irritation with each other over the mysterious occurrences. Seth sounds young and mischievous, with a slight lisp and great longing for a real life, while Caleb and Ira's voices reflect their panic over the ascendancy of Miss Ada, whose voice oozes with malevolence. A compelling listen.-Edie Ching, The University of Maryland, College Park (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.