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Mary Downing Hahn
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The Doll in the Garden: A Ghost Story Paperback – June 18, 2007

by Mary Downing Hahn (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 968 ratings
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From ghost story master Mary Downing Hahn, the haunting tale of a mysterious doll discovered in a young girl's garden, and its owner, a girl from seventy years in the past, who wants it back.

A suspenseful story of unexpected connections between present and past. Ashley and her mother need their new apartment to work out, but everything Ashley does seems to upset the irritable and unforgiving landlady. When Ashley makes friends with the girl next door, Kristi, they uncover a wooden box containing a well-loved turn-of-the-century doll. Ashley wants to keep the doll for herself, but Kristi has other ideas. So does the doll's original owner, a girl who died decades ago, but whom Ashley meets when she follows a mysterious white cat through a hedge. Can Ashley bring peace to the girl and resolve her own present-day challenges? 

Previous page
  1. Reading age
    8 - 12 years, from customers
  2. Print length
    128 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    1 - 4
  5. Lexile measure
    800L
  6. Dimensions
    5.12 x 0.34 x 7.62 inches
  7. Publication date
    June 18, 2007
  8. ISBN-10
    0618873155
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0618873159
  10. See all details
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From the Publisher

The Puppet's Payback and Other Chilling Tales Wait Till Helen Comes The Old Willis Place Guest
The Puppet's Payback and Other Chilling Tales Wait Till Helen Comes The Old Willis Place Guest
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See Details
Customer Reviews
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—
4.7 out of 5 stars
713
4.8 out of 5 stars
496
Price — — $7.59 $9.99
Read More Bone Chilling Tales by Mary Downing Hahn The author of wildly popular ghost stories, Mary Downing Hahn has created a group of tales for fans of her "scary but not too scary" books. A suspenseful yarn about two children who dislike their malicious younger stepsister, Heather—and tensions that escalate when Heather starts talking to a ghost named Helen. Mary Downing Hahn weaves a tale of two children who live near a decaying Victorian mansion, bound to the place by a mysterious set of rules. A tale of malicious sprites called the Kinde Folke who snatch Mollie's baby brother and replace him with a hideous changeling, and of Mollie's journey through eerie, perilous lands to save him.
Deep and Dark and Dangerous Time for Andrew All the Lovely Bad Ones The Girl in the Locked Room
Deep and Dark and Dangerous Time for Andrew All the Lovely Bad Ones The Girl in the Locked Room
Customer Reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
1,023
4.8 out of 5 stars
455
4.7 out of 5 stars
494
4.7 out of 5 stars
1,371
Price $9.99 $8.68 $7.99 $9.99
Mary Downing Hahn is at her chilling best in this supernatural tale, where the long-buried secret of a young girl's death in a canoe accident relentlessly makes its way to the surface of an idyllic vacation. Past and present are connected in surprising ways when boys from two different eras change places in this suspenseful, compelling tale. The eerie tale of a mischievous brother and sister who pretend their grandmother's Vermont inn is haunted and awaken the real spirits who inhabit the place. The chilling tale of a girl imprisoned for more than a century, the terrifying events that put her there, and a friendship that crosses the boundary between past and present.
Took The Doll in the Garden Closed for the Season The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall
Took The Doll in the Garden Closed for the Season The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall
Customer Reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
1,207
4.8 out of 5 stars
968
4.6 out of 5 stars
442
4.7 out of 5 stars
474
Price $9.99 $8.69 $7.99 $7.00
Dan is forced to believe that a witch called Old Auntie is real when his little sister, Erica, is "took" to become Auntie's slave for the next fifty years. The haunting tale of a mysterious doll discovered in a young girl's garden, and its owner, a girl from seventy years in the past, who wants it back. Two friends set out to solve the years-old mystery of a murder, testing their friendship and placing them in danger, in this creepy thriller by suspense master Mary Downing Hahn. In this chilling Gothic tale an orphan girl sent to live in Crutchfield Hall finds the place haunted by the ghost of her cousin Sophia, who is bent on revenge.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Hahn uses her satisfyingly mysterious, spooky story to illuminate the interaction of people in the present. . . . Thoughtful, entertaining fare for the middle grades." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A captivating fantasy that explores friendship, grief and the interconnectedness of events in time." — Publishers Weekly

From the Author

When I wrote this book,  I was a librarian in the children's room at the Laurel Public Library in Laurel, MD. A man brought in an exhibit of things he'd found while he was restoring an old house. The one that really caught my eye was the head of a ceramic doll. She had no hair, no eyes, and, of course, no body, but her face was beautiful. Her label said, "Antique Doll's head, manufactured in Germany around 1898, dug up in the rose garden." I wondered who buried the doll in the garden and why. My book is the answer to my question.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarion Books; Reprint edition (June 18, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0618873155
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0618873159
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 - 12 years, from customers
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 800L
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 1 - 4
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.12 x 0.34 x 7.62 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 968 ratings

About the author

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Mary Downing Hahn

Mary Downing Hahn

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Mary Downing Hahn, a former children's 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.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
968 global ratings
Love this story!
5 Stars
Love this story!
I love this book! This book is the reason I love mysteries and ghost stories. I wanted this cover because it’s the one I remember as a child. I bought the book for me, but I hope my daughter falls in love with it too! Another plus, the book arrived before I expected it!
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Top reviews from the United States

Harley Bland
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story and easy to follow.
Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2023
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My 10 year old daughter has recently gotten into “creepy” mystery books and we randomly picked this one out together. We have read it together (I always read with her to make sure certain stories aren’t too scary to prevent nightmares) we really loved this book. It has a good plot, a little bit of drama as well and some situations that kids can relate to. The short version is, a little girl is moving with her mom to a new home due to her dad sadly passing away. The mom can’t afford much and they end up renting a room from a very mean old lady who turned her house into an apartment. The little girl makes a friend who is convinced the garden is haunted. Weird unexplainable things keep happening and the little girl finds a doll buried in the garden that actually ends up being the old woman’s best friend from her childhood that also passed away. She uncovers why the old woman is so mean and why she had the doll and who it belonged to. Good story to read with your child if they like mysteries.
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Kimberly Cook
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2024
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I bought this book for my granddaughter who loves spooky books. She loved it!
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Review Nerd
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book!
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2016
Verified Purchase
This book must have been for one of my kids book reports. Grade 4-7-- A young girl helps her cantankerous elderly landlord to resolve a childhood act that caused the woman lifelong guilt. Ashley follows a white cat back in time and meets Louisa, a girl who is dying and who longs for her beloved doll--a doll that Ashley and her friend Kristi have found buried in Miss Cooper's garden. In the end Ashley, Kristi, and Miss Cooper visit Louisa; the woman is able to make am mends with her childhood friend, and Ashley begins to accept her father's death. Hahn's portrayal of crotchety Miss Cooper is expertly drawn, giving vivid insight into why she acts and lives as she does. Ashley, her widowed mother, and Kristi are also fully realized characters. When Hahn sticks to her story, it moves along at a steady, scary clip. However, when she lapses into lengthy descriptions of flowers, birds, and landscape, she slows the pace of the story rather than creates the intended atmosphere. Ashley's first-person narrative often gets bogged down in a flowery adult voice, particularly in the descriptions: "As still as the cherub behind me, I watched the leaves sway in the breeze. Sunlight and shadow mottled the ground, and the weeds whispered to themselves, lulling me like distant voices of children at play." Still, it's an imaginative ghost story, fairly predictable, but with a completely satisfying ending.
One person found this helpful
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T.J. Prowell
5.0 out of 5 stars Book
Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2024
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Nice
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Danielle N. Hart
4.0 out of 5 stars Lovely Mary Downing Hahn Short
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2016
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So, for Mary Downing Hahn fans, this one is not creepy and scary, as much as it is sort of bittersweet and supernatural.

It's not a very long read, but it has any number of classic Hahn traits - the heroine is of a familiar type, the elderly person who knows something but won't tell, the younger kid being dragged along - and it's enjoyable. I think it works better in this format than it would as a full-length novel.

I also LOVE Snowball the cat, and his role in the whole mystery. I thought it was beautifully done.

There do seem to be a lot of typos/scan errors in the book, but they aren't too distracting. It looks more like a OCR scan issue than actual lack of editing.
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Linda Austin - MoonbridgeBooks
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfectly haunting
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2007
Verified Purchase
My ten-year-old daughter and I loved this book! The story has so many elements that come together to make it a great read - mystery, conflict, good old-fashioned villain who eventually makes good, friendship, love, grief, and the perfect degree of thrill for the age group it is intended for. Throw in a couple cats and a lovely ending and what more can you ask for. We hated to put this book down.

The book does a particularly admirable job tackling the issues of death and grief, and also makes the reader consider the thought of a spirit world so perhaps this might make younger, more sensitive readers uncomfortable. The writing makes for a descriptive and realistic read despite the ghost story, but there are moments of adult language poking through 10-year-old Ashley's thoughts and I did think the sudden, seemingly complete turnaround of Ms. Cooper was a bit unusual. Nonetheless, the author has created a delightful book that will haunt the mind and heart and leave the reader with warm fuzzies in the end.
3 people found this helpful
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Avid Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Always wonderful reads
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2013
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I am, of course, way over the target age for Mary's books. However, I really enjoy them and share them with the target audience. I never share a book with a kid without reading it first, just in case. I read Mary's because I enjoy the stories, too - that's just my excuse!

She has a talent for seamlessly enduring characters and story lines that also have valuable lessons. Her material teaches morals, sympathy, empathy and so much more. They are also stories that can be very important for kids going through something similar to what the characters are enduring in the story line. In this case moving to a new location after the loss of a parent and all the things that go with that. It's a neat little mystery and ghost story all rolled into one about struggle, friendship and doing what's right.

This story does not disappoint. It is a five star read from a five star author.
20 people found this helpful
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Anonymous
5.0 out of 5 stars The doll in the garden
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2012
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It's not really scary. I loved it! It's about a little girl named Ashley who moves in the summer. Her Dad died from getting sick so she's only with her mom. She meets a girl her age that lives across the street from her named Kristi. One day, they had went in there grumpy old neighbor (miss. Cooper)`garden. They were picking weeds and then they find a doll. It belongs to a girl named Louisa. She died over 70 years ago. They find a note with the doll. It was from a girl named Carrie. She stole the doll from her. Kristi and Ashley meet Louisa. Throughout the book they are trying to find out who Carrie is and where the doll is because miss. Cooper took it from them. I think it's worth $3.99 because it makes you feel like your one of the characters
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Joyeeta Gupta
5.0 out of 5 stars A nice story for children (8--14 years)
Reviewed in India on April 24, 2021
Verified Purchase
Packaging is very good. Quality of print, paper, cover design also good. My book's cover design is different.
This story is suitable for young readers. (8 --14 Years)
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 2016
Verified Purchase
Good reading
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