The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House

Rating:
Summary: A TRUE CLASSIC
Review: Having first read this book approximately 30 years ago when it was known as "The Wicked Pigeon Ladies In The Garden", I was so excited to find it again. I checked this book out of my middle school library (a LONG time ago) about a million times. As an avid reader since second grade, this is one of the few books that has stayed with me even though I haven't actually seen this book since then. I have looked for the book under its original title with no success; however, I will purchase it now that I have located it under its new title for my ten-year old daughter to read and hopefully enjoy as much as I did.

Rating:
Summary: A TRUE CLASSIC
Review: Having first read this book approximately 30 years ago when it was known as "The Wicked Pigeon Ladies In The Garden", I was so excited to find it again. I checked this book out of my middle school library (a LONG time ago) about a million times. As an avid reader since second grade, this is one of the few books that has stayed with me even though I haven't actually seen this book since then. I have looked for the book under its original title with no success; however, I will purchase it now that I have located it under its new title for my ten-year old daughter to read and hopefully enjoy as much as I did.

Rating:
Summary: A Forgotten Classic That Could Stand to Be Forgotten
Review: I'd never heard of this "forgotten classic" before I picked up this retitled reissue. I see now that I wasn't missing much.

The story rambles and meanders. The wicked, wicked ladies seem like they could be much more wicked, though I did enjoy the way they were introduced (via a series of portraits that hang in their ruined old house). I wish there had been other little gimmicks like that in the book, to make it stand out.

If you want a book about running around in an old house, I recommend Ellen Raskin's "The Westing Game" or "The House With a Clock in Its Walls" by John Bellairs. Those books will stay with you for a long time, and they warrant rereading. The wicked, wicked ladies simply don't have much to recommend them.

Rating:
Summary: A chilling tale of ... pigeons
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A chilling tale of ... pigeons
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Returns to print an old classic
Review: 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.