Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story

Hahn, M. D. (1986 ). Wait till Helen comes: A ghost story. New York: Clarion Books.

 

If there are not enough problems with blending two families together, try mixing a ghost in too. This is the issue that the family has in this story. Wait till Helen comes is a modern fantasy story that falls under the supernatural events and mystery fantasy category. It contains magical realism which is defined as a blend of fantasy and realism by our text book. The family and characters are realistic, but the ghost is the fantasy. I choose this story, because it gave me the opportunity to read something I normally would not read (a ghost story). And surprisingly I enjoyed every minute of it. The story is told in first person narration by Molly, a young girl whose mother just recently gotten married and in an instant their family has grown from 3 to 5. Molly and her brother Michael felt like their family was just fine with them and their mother, but now they Dave their step father and his daughter Heather. Heather hates her new family, and longs for her own mother who passed away in a house fire. The family tries to make adjustments to the family dynamics, but the kids soon learn that they will be leaving their schools and friends in the city of Baltimore and moving to church way out in the country.  Upon their arrival to their new home the family discovers they have a graveyard on their property. Immediately Molly becomes afraid of the graveyard and thinks it maybe haunted by ghost, but nobody else believes her. In fact, Heather is excited and intrigued by the graveyard and she spends lots of time there. She eventually finds a grave of a  child who has her same initials and is the same age as her. She finds companionship in this young girl because she is sad and lonely.  Instantly Heather begins to talk about her new friend Helen, who is a ghost. In the mean time Heather tries everything to make everyone else's life miserable. She tells lies on Michael and Molly, and hates Jean her step mother. She constantly causes conflict between everyone in the family, and her father always takes her side because of her circumstances.Despite the fact that Molly dislikes Heather and her ways, when she figures out that she maybe in danger because of the ghost Helen she decides to put her own fears aside and protect her at any cost. This story had a chronological progressive plot:  it gave the background of the story and family, introduced us to the conflict, developed the conflict, had climax, then gave the resolution. Although I could not read this story to my students sense they are so young, I do believe the upper grades in elementary school would enjoy this story. If I were to teach older students I would have them make connections to the story: How many of you have a blended family? What is is like to have a step parent and step brothers and sisters? Have you ever experienced any of the conflicts that Molly and her family did? How do you and your family resolve your conflicts? Did Molly and her family teach us anything about resolving problems and being a family?