(2) 4-6 "Pool. Mall. Library." The summer after seventh grade was getting boring until Skylar persuades Abbi to do something different. The best friends ride bikes to the outskirts of town, where they find an old treehouse and claim it as their own private spot to observe the world. Soon they find a mystery happening right below them: every Thursday, two cars park under the tree. A woman wearing huge sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat exits her car and gets into a man's (they can hear his voice) SUV, which then drives off. One Thursday, however, the woman storms off into the woods after an argument in the SUV. The girls are intrigued but don't connect what they've witnessed to the report that their beloved art teacher is missing. The first half of the novel is deliberately paced, with hints and clues tantalizingly placed; by the time Abbi and Skylar realize what they've seen, readers will be a step ahead of them, witnessing their mistakes and bad decisions. Beyond the mystery is a compelling story of family, friends, bullies, and peer-group conformity. Hahn, who has made a long career of writing thrillers, once again demonstrates how engrossing a good story can be.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) 4-6 Mollie sets out to return Guest, a changeling child, to the Kinde Folke and bring home her true brother, Thomas--but on the journey, she grows to feel compassion for the unwanted creature. Mollie's sisterly affection toward both of her brothers gives the story its heart. Twists and turns provide ample opportunity for Irish folklore and legends to mingle with very human concerns about family, growing up, and bravery.

Reviewer: Sarah Berman | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2019

(2) 4-6 A girl doesn't know who she is, why she's locked in an attic, or for how long she's been there. Then twelve-year-old Jules--who's always the new kid and longs for permanence--moves in and begins seeing the girl-spirit. Through the characters' alternating perspectives, this ghost story successfully explores its dual plots: one of a young girl who wants to stay where she is; the other of one who wants to move on.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2018

(2) 4-6 In 1918, sixth-grade new girl Annie is befriended by the clingy, awful Elsie Schneider. Then the Spanish influenza epidemic hits, and Elsie dies. Elsie's vengeful ghost hijacks Annie's voice and hurls insults at those who wronged Elsie. Hahn excels in atmosphere and mood, and Elsie's claustrophobic presence chills throughout. This unsettling ghost story adroitly incorporates the historical setting with themes of bullying and personal responsibility.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2017

(2) 4-6 Daniel and little sister Erica find their dilapidated West Virginia home, the woods, and their new school unwelcoming and frightening. As kids tease them with scary tales, Erica becomes progressively stranger. The narrative alternates between Daniel's first-person perspective and a third-person-omniscient narrator who lets readers into the mind of witch "Old Auntie." This creepy tale skillfully weaves in--and honors--the oral tradition of folklore, legends, and ghost stories.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2015

(2) 4-6 Foster kid Brendan finds refuge in a tree house he builds. He also builds tentative friendships with Shea, a fellow outsider at school, and with an old man whom Brendan believes has supernatural abilities. This is quintessential middle-grade realistic fiction, with an unvarnished depiction of the miseries that can be visited upon a quiet sixth grader and the succor that can be found in hard-won friendships.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2014

(2) YA When an unknown gunman kills her friends Cheryl and Bobbi Jo, Nora works through her grief and comes to believe that the assumed murderer, Cheryl's bad-boy ex-boyfriend, is innocent. The present-tense narration provides immediacy in this top-notch coming-of-age mystery. By grounding the circumstances so specifically and convincingly in the 1950s, Hahn emphasizes the universality of growing up and facing death.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2012

(2) 4-6 Florence, at first happy to leave the orphanage, soon senses that Something Is Not Right in Crutchfield Hall. This truly scary period tale is both rousing historical fiction and ghost story. The ghost is classic Hahn--a mean little girl made meaner in death--while Florence is the kind of heroine for whom readers will stick around to be sure things turn out all right.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2010

(3) 4-6 Thirteen-year-old Logan's family moves to a small Virginia town in which an unsolved murder took place. Logan and his nerdy neighbor Arthur team up to try to solve the mystery; a sinister, shuttered theme park called Magic Forest plays a central role. This eerie, atmospheric story is as much about friendship and fitting in (or not) as it is about murder.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(2) 4-6 For mischief-makers Travis and Corey, a stay at their grandmother's reputedly haunted inn holds promise. Soon, though, the game isn't funny: "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.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2008

(4) 4-6 Thirteen-year-old Ali, vacationing with her aunt and cousin at a secluded family cottage, is drawn by family tension and a bratty visitor to investigate the events of a long-ago summer that ended in a girl's death. Despite a slightly redundant plot, the ghost's appearance and need for resolution rings true, as do the effects of the tragedy on Ali's family.

Reviewer: Beth L. Meister

(2) 4-6 Bookish, slightly awkward Jen moves with her widowed father to "a big stone house high on a hill." The house has served as a prison for young fairy Kieryn, locked inside a glass witch catcher decades before by Jen's late great-uncle. The fantasy tropes of the story are all familiar, even cozy, making the book an excellent start for uninitiated fantasy readers.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2006

(4) 4-6 It's difficult for Diana and her brother to make friends--for a reason that will become clear to readers long before Lissa, who has just moved into the trailer on the grounds of the Willis place, gets a clue. Although this ghost story requires some contrivances to keep itself going, Hahn gets the girls' relationship just right, and the spooky atmosphere is expertly evoked.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(2) YA Thirteen-year-old Haswell convinces his mother and sister to take in a wounded Confederate soldier, despite the danger. Following the tragic outcome, Haswell goes in search of his older brother, serving in the Confederate army. Hahn wraps the story around a vivid and accurate portrayal of the period, never allowing the strong setting to intrude on or interfere with the trajectory of Haswell's quest.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2003

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Diane de Groat. As full of episodic drama as its predecessor, Anna All Year Round, this sequel continues the adventures of nine-year-old Anna in pre-WWI Maryland. When Anna visits her aunt and uncle's farm, she and her uncle's orphaned nephew take an immediate dislike to each other. Once again, Hahn defies nostalgia with both the immediacy and the honesty of her up-close, present-tense telling.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2001

(4) 4-6 Hunting turtles in a Maryland marsh, Jesse encounters a dying slave and promises he will take her young son to Baltimore. Jesse accompanies Perry to Baltimore, then further south to Virginia, ultimately reuniting the boy with relatives who are bound for freedom. The solid historical novel is marred by an overdrawn slave-hunting villain who--in an unbelievable plot development--is revealed to have a family connection to Perry.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Diane deGroat. Based on the childhood of the author's mother, this engaging episodic novel follows the everyday adventures of third-grader Anna Sherwood growing up in pre-WWI Baltimore. Hahn's use of the present tense helps keep nostalgia at bay, as does the energetic, just-dashed-off quality of deGroat's rough pencil sketches.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 1999

(3) 4-6 After steadying his life under the guardianship of his grandmother in 'Following My Own Footsteps', Gordy's world is again turned upside down when Grandma dies and he and his younger sister return to live in their hometown. Played against a well-rendered post-World War II setting, Gordy's recidivism into his previously wild ways is presented with emotional complexity, as is his love/hate relationship with a female classmate.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.