SuitabookOne for sorrow
Mary Downing Hahn
- Reading
- You could read together and pause if the haunting feels unsettling, then talk about which parts are school conflict and which belong to the supernatural ghost-story element.
- Themes
- Bullying and friendship: Annie joins other girls in teasing and tormenting Elsie, who had claimed Annie as her best friend. The plot places harmful peer behaviour at the centre of the story, but its overall judgement of the characters’ actions is not clear.
- Death and supernatural revenge: Elsie dies from influenza during the 1918 epidemic and returns as a ghost seeking to punish the girls who bullied her. The story connects a real historical epidemic with supernatural consequences, but how it frames revenge is not established.
- Worth knowing
- Elsie dies during an influenza epidemic and returns as a vengeful ghost; Annie and other girls have teased and tormented her. Consider whether death, haunting or supernatural revenge might feel intense for your reader.