Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn (English) Paperback Book

Description: Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn Ali finds an old photograph and recognizes her mother and her aunt as children, but a third person has been torn out of the picture. Who could it be? Then Ali meets Sissy, a mean and spiteful girl who has a secret. Could it have something to do with the old photo? FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Just before summer begins, 13-year-old Ali finds an odd photograph in the attic. She knows the two children in it are her mother, Claire, and her aunt Dulcie. But whos the third person, the one whos been torn out of the picture? Ali figures shell find out while shes vacationing in Maine with Dulcie and her four-year-old daughter, Emma, in the house where Alis mothers family used to spend summers. All hopes for relaxation are quashed shortly after their arrival, though, when the girls meet Sissy, a kid whos mean and spiteful and a bad influence on Emma. Strangest of all, Sissy keeps talking about a girl named Teresa who drowned under mysterious circumstances back when Claire and Dulcie were kids, and whose body was never found. At first Ali thinks Sissys just trying to scare her with a ghost story, but soon she discovers the real reason why Sissy is so angry....Mary Downing Hahn is at her chilling best in this new supernatural tale thats certain to send shivers down her readers spines. AUTHOR: Mary Downing Hahn, a former childrens librarian, is the award-winning author of many popular ghost stories, including Deep and Dark and Dangerous and The Old Willis Place. An avid reader, traveler, and all-around arts lover, Ms. Hahn lives in Columbia, Maryland, with her two cats, Oscar and Rufus. Author Biography Mary Downing Hahn, a former childrens librarian, is the award-winning author of many popular ghost stories. Her work has won more than fifty child-voted state awards. An avid reader, traveler, and all-around arts lover, Ms. Hahn lives in Columbia, Maryland. Review "Signature spooky Hahn sends appropriate shivers up the readers spine ... satisfyingly chilly." -- Kirkus Reviews"Hahn offers another eerie, suspenseful ghost story filled with family secrets." -- Booklist"Classic mystery elements ... add to the suspense and keep the well-plotted story moving along to a satisfying conclusion." -- School Library Journal"A compact and approachable shiveriness ... an easygoing vacation read." -- Bulletin of the Center for Childrens Books Prizes Winner of Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award (Grades 3-5) 2011 Short-listed for Nutmeg Book Award (Intermediate) 2012 Review Quote Stormy weather, a deep, dark lake, and many unanswered questions (keep) mystery and ghost story fans turning pages right up to the end." Excerpt from Book Chapter 1 One rainy Saturday in March, I opened a box of books Mom had brought home from Grandmothers house. Although Grandmother had been dead for five years, no one had unpacked any of the boxes. Theyd been sitting in the attic collecting dust, their contents a mystery. Hoping to find something to read, I started pulling out books--Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Misty of Chincoteague, and at least a dozen Nancy Drew mysteries. At thirteen, Id long since outgrown Carolyn Keenes plots, but I opened one at random, The Bungalow Mystery, and began flipping the pages, laughing at the corny descriptions: "Nancy, blue eyed, and with reddish glints in her blonde hair," "Helen Corning, dark-haired and petite." The two girls were in a small motorboat on a lake, a storm was coming, and soon they were in big trouble. Just as I was actually getting interested in the plot, I turned a page and found a real-life mystery: a torn photograph. In faded shades of yellow and green, Moms older sister, Dulcie, grinned into the camera, her teeth big in her narrow face, her hair a tangled mop of tawny curls. Next to her, Mom looked off to the side, her long straight hair drawn back in a ponytail, eyes downcast, unsmiling, clearly unhappy. Dulcie was about eleven, I guessed, and Mom nine or ten. Behind the girls was water--a lake, I assumed. Pressed against Dulcies other side, I could make out an arm, a shoulder, and a few strands of long hair, just enough for me to know it was a girl. The rest of her had been torn away. I turned the photo over, hoping to find the girls name written on the back. There was Grandmothers neat, schoolteacherly handwriting: "Gull Cottage, 1977. Dulcie, Claire, and T--." Like her face, the rest of the girls name was missing. Alone in the attic, I stared at the arm and shoulder. T . . . Tanya, Tonia, Traci, Terri. So many T names to choose from. Which was hers? Putting the photo back in the book, I ran downstairs to ask Mom about Gull Cottage, the lake, and the girl. I found her in the kitchen chopping onions for the vegetable casserole she was fixing for dinner. Standing there, head down, she wore the same expression caught in the photograph. Not surprising. She always looked sad, even when she wasnt. I waved the photograph. "Look what I found--a picture of you and Dulcie at a lake somewhere. And another girl--" Mom snatched the photograph, her face suddenly flushed. "Where did you get this?" She acted as if Id been rummaging through her purse, her bureau drawers, the medicine cabinet, looking for secrets. I backed away, startled by her reaction. "It fell out of your old book." I held up The Bungalow Mystery. "It was in one of those boxes you brought back from Grandmothers house. Look, heres your name." I pointed to "Claire Thornton, 1977," written in a childish scrawl on the inside cover. Mom stared at the photograph as if I hadnt spoken. "I was sure Id thrown this away." "Whos the girl sitting beside Dulcie?" I asked, unable to restrain my curiosity. "Me," Mom said without raising her eyes. "No, I mean on the other side, where its ripped." I pointed. "See her arm and her shoulder? On the back Grandmother wrote T, but the rest of her name was on the torn part." "I dont remember another girl." Mom gripped the photo and shook her head. "At the lake, it was always Dulcie and me, just Dulcie and me. Nobody else." At that moment, Dad came through the kitchen door and set a grocery bag on the counter. "Salad stuff," he said. "They didnt have field greens, so I got baby spinach." "Fine," Mom said. "What are you looking at?" Reaching over Moms shoulder, he took the photo. "Little Claire and little Dulcie," he said with a smile. "What a cute pair you were. Too bad the pictures torn--and the colors so awful." Mom reached for the photo, but Dad wasnt finished with it. "This must have been taken in Maine," he said. "At your cottage." "Yes." She reached for the picture again. "Hey, look at this." Dad handed her the photo. "Theres another girl sitting next to Dulcie. See her arm? Who was she?" "This picture was taken thirty years ago," she said sharply. "I have no idea who that girl was." Slipping the photo into her pocket, Mom went to the kitchen window and gazed at the backyard, which was just beginning to show green after the winter. With her back to us, she said, "Soon itll be time to mulch the garden." It was her way of ending the conversation, but Dad chose to ignore the hint. "Your mom and aunt spent their vacations at Sycamore Lake when they were little," he told mee. "They still own Gull Cottage, but neither one of them has gone there since they were kids." "Why not?" I asked. "A cottage on a lake . . . Id love to see it." "Dont be ridiculous," Mom said, her back still turned. "The place has probably fallen to pieces by now." "Why not drive up and take a look this summer?" Dad asked her. "Ali would love Maine--great hiking, swimming, canoeing, and fishing. Lobster, clams, blueberries. We havent had a real vacation for years." Mom spun around to face us, her body tense, her voice shrill. "I hated going there when I was little. The lake was cold and deep and scary, and the shore was so stony, it hurt my feet. It rained for weeks straight. Thunder, lightning, wind, fog. The gnats and mosquitoes were vicious. Dulcie and I fought all the time. I never want to see Gull Cottage again. And neither does Dulcie." "Oh, come on, Claire," Dad said, laughing, "it couldnt have been that bad." "You dont know anything about it." Pressing her fingers to her temples, a sure sign of a headache, she left the room and ran upstairs. A second later, the bedroom door slammed shut. I turned to Dad, frustrated. "Whats the matter with Mom now?" "Go easy on her, Ali. You know how easily she gets upset." He sighed and headed toward the stairs. "Dont you have a math test tomorrow?" Alone in the kitchen, I opened my textbook and stared at a page of algebra problems. Go easy on your mother, dont upset her, she cant handle it. How often had I heard that? My mother was fragile. She worried, she cried easily, sometimes she stayed in bed for days with migraine headaches. From the room overhead I could hear the drone of my parents voices. Moms voice rose sharp and tearful. "Ive told you before, I dont want to talk about it." Dad mumbled something. I closed my algebra book and retreated to the family room. With the TV on, I couldnt hear them arguing, but even a rerun of Law and Order couldnt keep me from thinking about the photo. I certainly hadnt meant to start a scene--I just wanted to know who "T" was. I never saw the photo again. No one mentioned Sycamore Lake or Gull Cottage. But the more we didnt talk about it, the more I thought about it. Who was "T"? Why didnt Mom remember her? If Grandmother had still been alive, I swear I wouldve called her and asked who "T" was. I thought about calling Dulcie and asking her, but if Mom saw the number on the phone bill, shed want to know why Id called my aunt and what wed talked about. Mom had "issues with Dulcie"--her words. They couldnt be together for more than a few hours without arguing. Politics, child raising, marriage--they didnt agree on anything. Maybe because I couldnt talk to anyone about the photo, I began dreaming about "T" and the lake. Week after week, the same dream, over and over and over again. Im walking along the shore of Sycamore Lake in a thick fog. I see a girl coming toward me. I cant make out her face, but somehow I know its "T." She seems to know me, too. She says, "Youd better do something about this." She points at three girls in a canoe, paddling out onto the lake. One is my mother, one is Dulcie, and I think the third girl is "T." But how can that be? Isnt she standing a few feet away? No, shes gone. The canoe vanishes into the fog. Thats when I always woke up. Scared, shivering--the way people feel when they say, "Someones walking on my grave." I wanted to tell Mom about the dream, but I knew it would upset her. Although Dad didnt agree, it seemed to me shed been more nervous and anxious since Id shown her the photograph. She started seeing her therapist again, not once but twice a week. Her headaches came more frequently, and she spent days lying on the couch reading poetry, mainly Emily Dickinson--not a good choice in my opinion for a depressed person. Dickinsons poems were full of things I didnt quite understand but frightened me. Her mind was haunted, I thought, by death and sorrow and uncertainty. Sometimes I suspected thats why Mom liked Dickinson--they were kindred spirits. Except for my dream and Moms days on the couch, life went on pretty much as usual. Dad taught his math classes at the university, graded exams, gave lectures, and complained about lazy students and boring faculty meetings--standard stuff. I got involved in painting scenery for the school play and doing things with my friends. As the weather warmed, Mom cheered up a bit and went to work in her flower garden, mulching, transplanting, choosing new plants at the nursery--the best therapy, she claimed. And then Dulcie paid us an unexpected visit and threw everything off track. Copyright Details ISBN0547076452 Author Mary Downing Hahn Language English ISBN-10 0547076452 ISBN-13 9780547076454 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY FIC Year 2008 Short Title DEEP & DARK & DANGEROUS Imprint Houghton Mifflin Place of Publication Boston, MA Country of Publication United States Residence Columbia, MD, US Publisher Houghton Mifflin Audience Age 10-12 DOI 10.1604/9780547076454 UK Release Date 2008-08-04 AU Release Date 2008-08-04 NZ Release Date 2008-08-04 US Release Date 2008-08-04 Publication Date 2008-08-04 Audience Children / Juvenile Imprint US Clarion Books Publisher US HarperCollins Pages 208 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:16814677;

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