The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House [Hardcover]

Mary Chase (Author), Peter Sis (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

Maureen Swanson is the scourge of the neighborhood. At age nine, she already has a reputation as a hard slapper, a loud laugher, a liar, and a stay-after-schooler. The other kids call her Stinky. So sometimes when Maureen passes the crumbling (and haunted?) Messerman mansion, she imagines that she is Maureen Messerman–rich, privileged, and powerful. Then she finds a way into the forbidden, boarded-up house. In the hall are portraits of seven young women wearing elaborate gowns and haughty expressions. Maureen has something scathing to say to each one, but then she notices that the figures seem to have shifted in their frames. So she reaches out her finger to touch the paint–just to make sure–and touches . . . silk! These seven daughters of privilege are colder and meaner than Maureen ever thought to be. They are wicked, wicked ladies, and Maureen has something they want. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 3-6. Nineyearold Maureen Swanson is "a hard slapper, a shouter, a loud laugher, a liar, a trickster, and a stayafterschooler." She's always in trouble. One afternoon, after turning the hose on her neighbor, she flees to the Old Messerman Place, an abandoned mansion. The locals believe the place to be haunted, and according to the police, "nobody ever goes in there or comes out--except pigeons." At first Maureen is delighted to be inside the gates of the forbidden house, but as she explores the crumbling mansion and unravels the mystery of what became of the Messerman family, she learns that the pigeons are much more than they seem. Clues to the mysteries are heavily foreshadowed, and readers may grow impatient as they wait for Maureen to realize what they already know. But Chase tells a suspenseful ghost story cum mystery in moody, atmospheric prose that blends dark magic and a dry wit occasionally reminiscent of Roald Dahl. Peter Sis' illustrations weren't available in galley. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap

Maureen Swanson is the scourge of the neighborhood. At age nine, she already has a reputation as a hard slapper, a loud laugher, a liar, and a stay-after-schooler. The other kids call her Stinky. So sometimes when Maureen passes the crumbling (and haunted?) Messerman mansion, she imagines that she is Maureen Messerman?rich, privileged, and powerful. Then she finds a way into the forbidden, boarded-up house. In the hall are portraits of seven young women wearing elaborate gowns and haughty expressions. Maureen has something scathing to say to each one, but then she notices that the figures seem to have shifted in their frames. So she reaches out her finger to touch the paint?just to make sure?and touches . . . silk! These seven daughters of privilege are colder and meaner than Maureen ever thought to be. They are wicked, wicked ladies, and Maureen has something they want. . . .

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (August 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 037582572X
• ISBN-13: 978-0375825729
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #915,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wicked Good Fun!, January 9, 2007

By 

T. Bickley - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House (Paperback)

I read this book more than thirty years ago when I was still in grade school -- I ordered it through one of those scholastic book catalogues they used to distribute in class -- and it quickly became one of my favorites. I read it several times again over the next few years, and then went on to other books. But not too long ago I started thinking about some of the books I had loved as a girl and this book came immediately to mind. Turned out that it was no longer in my collection (that is what happens when you move every few years). So I looked for it on Amazon.com, bought it, read it the very night I received it . . . and fell in love with it all over again. Sure, it was not as scary as I remembered, nor as lengthy, either (it took me about an hour to read), but the story gallops along, the plot is fairly sound, and the central character is surprisingly real. I am glad I have a copy of the book once more, and I plan to keep it in my collection from here on out.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A chilling tale of ... pigeons, April 9, 2004

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House (Hardcover)

In 1988, when I was attending the fourth grade, our teacher (name long since forgotten) began reading us a story that has stuck in my mind ever since. Over the years I remembered odd snippets of the story. The old abandoned house. The portraits of beautiful women that moved. The shoe repairing leprechaun in the garden. It was only recently that I decided to track down this story and reread it for myself. You see, my fourth grade teacher never finished "The Wicked Pigeon Ladies In the Garden" (since renamed "The Wicked Wicked Ladies In the Haunted House") and, when last heard from, the heroine of the story was in dire straights.

In this tale, a bratty young girl gets the ultimate comeuppance. Having broken into an abandoned old mansion, she quickly finds herself at odds with the horrible inhabitants. When Maureen (the aforementioned girl) steals a bracelet belonging to one of the long lost daughters of the house, she sets off a chain of events that takes her back in time. Along the way, she makes the acquaintance of a leprechaun, who offers her the only way possible back home to her family.

So I reread the story in its entirety. Originally published in 1968, I was disappointed to find the writing mediocre. For some reason, author Mary Chase was excellent at making memorable characters and plot points while not being particularly good at writing itself. In this story, seven vain sisters from the Victorian era break their parents' hearts by turning themselves into pigeons and flying away. The leprechaun muses that perhaps a greater good will come of it. Unfortunately, that greater good is apparently the same moral Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" learned. Namely, teaching our heroine that there's no place like home. So ruining the lives of two people is worth one young bratty girl learning a lesson. Mmm hmm. There are other problems as well. I remember being very confused as a child as to the fact that the girl, Maureen, is never helped by the one pigeon lady who she was nice to. And then there's just the writing itself. It's not awful. But any kid who's suddenly thrown into the past is going to catch on pretty quickly that they aren't in the present day. For Maureen, it takes roughly 36 hours.

This isn't a terrible story, mind you, but there are better ones out there. Still, there's no arguing with the fact that this book made a huge impression on me when I was young. For the kid interested in mysterious goings on and ladies in beautiful evening gowns, this book is a great read. So sayeth my former 10 year-old self.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Returns to print an old classic, October 6, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House (Hardcover)

Mary Chase's Wicked Wicked Ladies In The Haunted House returns to print an old classic: the story of an outsider who imagines she lives in an old mansion. Maureen is nasty to everyone and when she creeps into the abandoned old mansion she's even rude to the ladies in the pictures  ladies who turn out to be evil and who come to life with an agenda. New generations will find this delightful.