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Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn. Clarion Books 1986. Sandpiper Paperback Reissue 2008. Brilliance Audio 2009. Narrated by Ellen Grafton.

The Plot: Molly, younger brother Michael, and stepsister Heather, a newly blended family, have moved to a house in the country. Heather has never been the most likable child, and she gets even worse now that she has a friend. Helen. A ghost child only Heather can see. Heather's father, Dave, thinks his daughter is imaginative and doesn't understand Molly's concern.

Molly finds out that a nearby home burnt down over a hundred years ago, killing a young girl named Helen. Several children have drowned in a nearby pond. Molly becomes convinced that Heather is in danger. Can she save her stepsister?

The Good: Wait Till Helen Comes is a scary as hell ghost story about not one, but two, mean little girls. Is there anything more terrifying than an evil child? How about an evil child that everyone else thinks is young and nice and harmless?

Heather, seven, is a brat even before Helen enters the picture. She manipulates all those around her and is particularly gifted at getting her father to take sides against his new stepchildren, Molly and Michael, and against his new wife. Helen is not just the ghost egging Heather on; Helen is also a ghost responsible for the drowning deaths of several children over the years.

But that's not the scary part. Oh, it is scary, and kids looking to be scared will love this book. Creepy, atmospheric, spooky, with a very real danger.

That's not what scared me as an adult. As an adult reader, I was appalled at how the stepfather, Dave, treats his stepchildren, his wife, and his own daughter. No physical abuse; but enough nastiness and neglect that I couldn't help but wonder at what type of rebellions Molly, Michael and Heather would have in high school. Molly, given the model that to have a man, you put up with his garbage, is Most Likely To Be In Abusive Relationship. Scientist Michael stops escaping to woods and bugs and starts escaping with drugs. And Heather, looking for the love she doesn't get from Daddy, will be Sixteen and Pregnant.

Let me give some examples. Dave, talking to his ten year old stepson, Michael, says "what kind of little monster are you anyway." And the mother, hearing her child called a monster, does . . . Nothing. Instead, mom tells her children to be nicer. Basically, setting the stage of future dysfunction by modeling the "if you don't piss him off, he won't get mad, just be good so he will stay with us" relationship, rather than the "he's being irrational and over the top in his anger, and I won't put up with me and my kids being treated that way" relationship.

Frankly, it's upsetting. And honestly? Dave isn't that much better with Heather. He flips flops between spoiling her and ignoring her. No wonder Heather is obnoxious -- her father repeatedly rewards her worst behaviour and totally plays into a very uncomfortable wife versus child struggle.

And -- here is the best part

Boys Are Dogs by Leslie Margolis. Bloomsbury USA Children's Books. 2008. Brilliance Audio 2009. Reviewed from audiobook from Brilliance. Narrated by Ellen Grafton.

The Plot: Annabelle has moved to a new house. Because her mother has decided to move in with her new boyfriend. So now she has to go to a new school, a public middle school after years at an all girl's school. Also? Annabelle has a new puppy.

New house, new Mom's boyfriend, new school, new puppy, new friends, new boys. It's a lot to deal with and Annabelle does so -- sometimes gracefully, sometimes not, sometimes reluctantly, sometimes wholeheartedly, but always with humor and a unique, invidual outlook on life.

The Good: Annabelle is a terrific sixth grader. Boys are Dogs captures that perfect mix of excitement and fear over starting a new school in a new town where you know no one. Sometimes, it all goes wrong, like when the puppy eats Annabelle's back to school clothes. Other times, it all goes right, like when Rachel, a girl her age in her new neighborhood, invites Annabelle to eat lunch with Rachel and her friends. If you don't understand the importance of having someone to eat lunch with on the first day of a new school -- well, I can only assume you never had a first day at a new school.

Annabelle and her mother have always been a tight unit of two; the inclusion of Ted, Mom's boyfriend, is done both realistically but also, well -- in a nice way. While it's not easy and all Brady Bunch at the beginning, how refreshing to have a book where the grownups (Mom and Ted) act like, well, grown ups, thinking of Annabelle. Annabelle may not always agree, such as when she had to move away from her school and her two best friends.

A new school with boys... and this is where the book really kicks into gear. Whether it's because Annabelle had no father or brothers, or went to an all girl school, or is now a sixth grader in middle school (I know some teachers who really dislike middle schools), Annabelle has only just now encountered boys. This is not a book about tween romance. Annabelle is not boy crazy -- and before I continue, not every sixth grade girl is boy crazy and it's nice to see that reality reflected in a book. Sixth graders will like this book; but so, too, will younger kids.

Even if Annabelle wanted a boyfriend, the actions of the boys at this new school hardly scream "date me." They kick her chair, play practical jokes on her, call her Spanabelle and Spaz, hog the science equipment, ruin her homework, and I could go on and on. You know what is great about this book? No one ever says to Annabelle or the reader, "that boy is acting like that because he likes you." Hallelujah to at least one book that doesn't perpetuate the myth, "if a boy is mean or disrespectful it's because he likes you."

Annabelle puts up with it.... at first. But she has a secret weapon. Remember her clothes eating puppy? She's been reading how to train dogs. Annabelle puts two and two together and figu