Another hit by Mary Downing Hahn! Any time I can't think of a particular title to a student that wants a scary book, I go straight to Mary Downing Hahn. The Girl in the Locked Room is a creepy mystery that will keep readers guessing even after the book is finished and may even cause them to reread for clues.

It's said not to judge a book by it's cover, but this book is spooky from front cover to back! Fans of a classic ghost story will gobble this one up.

"A family moves into an old, abandoned house. Jules's parents love the house, but Jules is frightened and feels a sense of foreboding. When she sees a pale face in an upstairs window, though, she can't stop wondering about the eerie presence on the top floor—in a room with a locked door. Could it be someone who lived in the house a century earlier?"
The book is perfect for younger spooky readers. Very soft and sad ghost story. Things that go bump in the night, whats more scarier than the unknown?

This was my first book by this author, and I can positively say that I really enjoyed reading this one. Its captivating. For sure I will be checking other books written by this author.

Mary Downing Hahn is a mainstay in the field of children's literature. So many of her titles are classics and are still popular today. The Girl in the Locked Room is a fine addition to her canon of work and offers new perspectives (alternative universe) and will find an audience with today's youth.

Downing Hahn is a capable writer, having both heart and substance in this genre. Often times less skilled authors miss out on that component and leave the reader with just cheap thrills. Downing Hahn adds more to the genre and for that, her books remain classics.

This book adds new dimensions to her work with the alternative universe angle and having the girls be friends with the ghost instead of it being a bad spirit (like Wait til Helen Comes for ex.). With seriously eerie parts and a very sad backstory to our ghost, I enjoyed this ghost story tremendously and will recommend to my readers looking for a scary story.

A house with a violent history. A young girl is terrorized nightly by angry men who bang at her door, demanding that she let them in. But she was told by her parents to hide until they came from her. Why haven’t they come? What happened to them? Why can’t the girl even remember her own name? Can the girl that sees her through her upstairs window help her?

Jules doesn’t want to live in yet another new house in another new town while her father restores old buildings and chases his dreams. But there’s something very different about this house, Oak Hill. Something sinister. And when she hears the horror story about what actually happened to the people who lived in the house, Jules can’t help but be creeped out. And then, she sees the face in the upstairs window ... in the room where no one is supposed to be. Is it true the house is haunted? And if so, is the ghost seeking revenge?

A solid mystery/ghost story for fans of Mary Downing Hahn.

Hahn is a master of suspense and has been for years. Her books create a sense of dread and descriptions allow for the reader to really feel the fear the characters go through.

4.4 stars

Oh this was so darling! I wanted to hug someone at the end! ANYONE :)

Don’t get me wrong. There was a murder, a mystery, ghosts, and plenty of “I see dead people” moments

BUT

Also so much kindness, friendship, camaraderie and family love!

This was a great, mysterious, ghostly, creepy MG read spiced with science, other dimensions, other worlds, and all that kinda mind-bending deliciousness. :)

This is the second book by Mary Downing Hahn that I read and totally love! I will be reading more!

This is a good choice for a middle grader who prefers a ghost story to have a realistic tone, and not scare them to pieces. The Bennet family moves into an old mansion so that the father can oversee the restoration of the building to its former grandeur. Unfortunately, Jules, his, daughter keeps seeing a girl, Lily, in the window of a third floor room, which is locked. Why is the girl is in the room? At night, when her parents are asleep, Jules also hears the sound of horses galloping toward the old house, and angry shouting. Why can't Jules's parents hear or see these things? Jules is helped by her new fired, Maisie, and together they gain the trust of Lily, who explains why she hasn't left the room. Well constructed story, with believable characters.

A perfectly spooky story for middle grade and young teen readers. There's just enough creepiness to satisfy those who are tentative about ghost stories, and enough to engage those who like to be at least a little scared. Present day and past collide when Jules and her family move into the local haunted house. With the help of a new friend, Jules is determined to unlock the mystery of the ghostly girl in the attic.

The kids devour scary books, and especially Mary Downing Hahn's. I am embarrassed to say this is the first one I've read. I can see why the kids like them so much. Definite fear factor, but not too scary. I think kids will enjoy the old creepy house and the broken dolls and the ghost girl. I will be reading more of Hahn's books.

I am not a huge ghost story fan, but I thought I'd try reading this one because I have many students who love them. It was not super scary, just a little creepy and really kind of sad.

The story is told in alternating points of view between a present day girl (Jules) and a girl from the late 1800s (the girl in the locked room). I had a bit of a hard time switching back and forth between the present tense and past tense, but it helped make the chapters told by the two girls a little more distinct.

The story itself was fine. I was reasonably engaged and I think young readers will want to find out what happens to the girls. There is some violence (domestic violence and murder). It fits with the story, but just be aware.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing to me to read an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

When it comes to children's thrillers, Mary Downing Hahn is a powerhouse. She's been around awhile and knows how to do her thing. Despite the fact that this book is short and written for mid-grade readers, her characters feel alive. The book itself is more creepy than scary, so no reason to worry about horror induced nightmares.

I do have some criticism though. I would have liked to have more closure at the end. What happened to Lily? Did she go into another timeline? If she lived in our timeline, then why were the paintings still locked away in the upstairs studio? But if she was still dead in our timeline, where was her body? Does the marker in the grave yard read any differently? Just a couple of lines or a little scene to explain what happened would have been great.

On a personal note, I loved that the story revolves around restoring an old house. Preserving old architecture is something that I'm passionate about, and I hope the younger generations do a better job with it that we have.. It was also a nice little surprise that the story is set in Southwest Virginia, one of my favorite vacation areas.

I received an ARC of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review


This was a short, fast pace middle-grade ghost story. It didn't take me long to read and it was pretty good. Interesting plot and characters.



Some things were super convenient to the plot, forcibly moving the characters along, rather than organically. I did find the author using an old fantasy series to help Jules solve the mystery rather creative. In fact until this book I didn't even know who Diana Wynne Jones was.



The chapters go back and forth between Lily, the ghost, and Jules the living girl in the present.



The book delves into Jules home life where she's been moved from town to town and school to school because of her dad's job and how much she wants to stay in one place and be able to make friends. She is quite relatable and her parents quirky and fleshed out.



Jules grows as a character, she really talks to her parents about how lonely she's been, that she worries about being the new girl in school, again. Then we get to see her become instant BFF's with a local girl who helps her figure out how to help the ghost locked in the room,



While it wasn't, for me, creepy. This book had a ton of elements I like in my ghost stories and put in some you don't usually see. Like other times lines and dimensions.



I'll be buying this for my 9 years old, as I find a younger audience will really appreciate this novel. A cute way to start off my Halloween reading month.

It is unexpectedly a light read. If you’re looking for a terrifying story, this is not it, as it caters to younger readers. The story is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. Jules is a strong main character, as well as Lily, the ghost little girl. The alternating narratives work well and it is nice to read the ghost’s perspective as we get to know her. But it also made things less creepy, which I actually didn’t mind. The events of how Lily died is tragic and I like the idea that Jules and her friend, Maisie, came up with to help the little girl. It is a fast read with only 200 pages and thus, I was left wanting more. Nevertheless, I was satisfied with how things end with Jules and Lily. The Girl in the Locked Room is an interesting and touching tale about friendship and selflessness. A well-written ghost story that young readers will definitely enjoy and with enough mystery to keep the adult readers entertained, too.

The Girl in the Locked Room is (at least initially) a story of two lonely little girls and the adults who fail them. The Girl is a ghost, locked away and forgotten, reliving the worst night of her life over and over again. Jules is a young woman who moves in just below The Girl’s room, forced to move from place to place by a father whose wanderlust and selfishness won’t allow him to see that his daughter needs stability and friendships that last longer than a year. Mary Downing Hahn writes an eerie yet gentle and loving tale of their unlikely friendship that changes the course of both of their lives.

Jules has a sensitivity for the paranormal. She used to see a witch every night in her bedroom — in what is easily the creepiest ghostly encounter in the novel — before her family mercifully moved out of that haunted house and into a slightly less haunted one. Her parents dismiss her repeated claims of paranormal visions, and they often outright ignore her or use her. Jules’s mother is a novelist, and at one point Jules’s experiences become fodder for a character in one of her mother’s books. (I have to admit, I may be focusing too much on this aspect of the book. I got quite angry at her parents for their treatment of Jules, but they both obviously love her, and they are not abusive in the slightest.)

Due to her ability to see ghosts, Jules notices The Girl right away. Though she is scared at first, fear soon gives way to curiosity, and Jules sets about investigating what happened to The Girl and how she may be able to help her. The focus on helping a friend — and the knowledge that, by doing so, she may lose her — is lovely and bittersweet. This is still very much a ghost story, but rather than startling us with rattling chains and terrifying moans, Hahn whispers to us with rustling leaves and soft sighs.

Happily, what begins as a story about two lonely girls does not end that way; love and friendship win the day, at least for some. This gentle tale leaves the reader with a sense of peace and closure. The Girl in the Locked Room is a beautiful, eerie story about bravery, selflessness, and righting the wrongs of the past. Mary Downing Hahn has written another wonderful ghost story, one best told on a bright summer day.

I love how this author added elements of a mystery, historical fiction, and realistic fiction in to this ghost story. Another great book by Ms. Hahn.

This was a perfect middle grade ghost story. Just enough spookiness for 3rd and 4th graders. I really appreciated the details from the ghost's perspective and her slowly starting to remember her past. The idea of alternate universes was a bit odd to me, but I feel like it played out well for the audience it was intended.

I'm sure some of my younger students would love this book, since it isn't super scary, just mysterious and odd. The alternating chapters worked well to give both points of view. It was nice to see how Jules was able to make a friend (or two) through trying to learn about the history of her new house. A decent but weird book, I had trouble getting into The Girl in the Locked Room, and the ending was strange.

Jules' father moved around the country to fix up old houses. Now that she's thirteen, she's tired of it. It doesn't help that the new house they've moved into is old enough to have local stories about it. Those stories don't include the pale face of a girl in the third-floor window. The more Jules looks into it, the more she wants to help the girl trapped there, and maybe help her change her family's fate.

The classic elements of a ghost story are here: the creepy house that modern newcomers are coming to, the terrible night that had happened in the late 1800's and the noises that repeat which only the young girl can hear. We always wonder about the stories involved in old Victorian houses, especially the ones that are crumbling and in need of repair. This book really plays up that curiosity and tells us a believable story.

The story unfolds slowly and naturally, and we see them through Jules' eyes as well as that of the ghost herself. Her story is a sad one, and she's not a frightening kind of ghost. That makes this perfect for the middle-grade readers and preteens that it's directed at, while still being enjoyable for older readers who don't want to be scared out of their minds. My daughter is nearly ten, and she eagerly kept reading the book because she had to know how it ends. Both Jules and the ghost are engaging characters, and we're drawn into their story very easily.