Deep and Dark and Dangerous: A Ghost Story

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Deep and Dark and Dangerous: A Ghost Story

by Mary Downing Hahn (Goodreads Author)

4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 · rating details · 5,322 ratings · 977 reviews

Just before summer begins, 13-year-old Ali finds an odd photograph in the attic. She knows the two children in it are her mother, Claire, and her aunt Dulcie. But who’s the third person, the one who’s been torn out of the picture?

Ali figures she’ll find out while she’s vacationing in Maine with Dulcie and her four-year-old daughter, Emma, in the house where Ali’s mother’s...more

Hardcover, 192 pages

Published May 21st 2007 by Clarion Books (first published January 1st 2007)

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Lists with This Book

Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn

Iowa Children's Choice nominees 2010-2011

2nd out of 27 books — 22 voters

Best Depressing Books

38th out of 151 books — 226 voters

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Jan 03, 2009 Nidhi rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is very good it is more like a mystery and a ghost story if you want to read it CHECK IT OUT!!

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Dec 14, 2008 Violet rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal, mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 13, 2009 Mahathi rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was a wonderful story. There was so much that you could get from it. There was happiness, horror, and laughter all mixed in. Also some sadness. The creepiness of the story brought among the main suspense of the story along with the mystery of the new characters and new conflicts. During some times i felt like popping into the book and dealing with the situations myself since i felt they were not strongly dealt with although that was probably the author's point to make sure the story co...more

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Mar 13, 2008 Jackie "the Librarian" rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: ages 10 to 15

Shelves: childrensbooks, horror

Ali is invited to spend the summer at the family’s old cottage up in Maine, watching her four-year-old niece Emma for her aunt Dulcie. But Ali’s mom is dead against it, saying the lake is too dangerous, and that it’s a dark and rainy place to have a miserable summer. She refuses to talk about her own childhood there, or who the third girl in the old photo Ali finds of her mom and Dulcie as kids at the lake.
But Dulcie and Ali wear her down, and Ali goes off to Maine, where she finds her mother w...more

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Dec 17, 2008 Kaitlyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Deep and Dark and Dangerous
By: Mary Downing Hahn
Review By: Kaitlyn

Have you ever read something that was so deep and dark and dangerous, as this book, Deep and Dark and Dangerous? Author Mary Downing Hahn wrote this spectacular, wonderful, amazing ghost adventure!
Some important character is this story is:

*Dulcie
*Ali
*Sissy
*Emma
*Mom

Ali discovers an old, old photo of three little girls sitting on a bench. Ali knows one is her Aunt Dulcie and the other is her mom, but she is puzzled by the third g...more

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Nov 24, 2008 Angie rated it 5 of 5 stars

So Far, I've Read That A Girl Name Ali Was looking Through Her Dead Grandmas Stuff, And Found A Book To Read, She Was Flipping Through the Book And Found A Picture That Was Torn. She Saw That Her Mom Claire And Her Aunt Dulcie. She Saw A Arm Lying On Her Aunt Dulcie's Shoulder, And Wondered Who It Was. She Looked On the Back To Find Names, She Saw Her Mom's Name, Claire, Her Aunt's Name, Dulcie, And She Saw A Letter T. Like The Rest Of The Body Was Torn, The Name Was To. She Asks Her Mom Who It...more

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Jan 08, 2009 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

It is creepy!!!!!!! But a great book about friendship and is very mystrious.

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Oct 09, 2011 Jim Haggerty rated it 2 of 5 stars

Deep and Dark and Dangerous: A Ghost Story, by author Mary Downing Hahn, is a supernatural thriller that you may not want to read while you're alone... because if you do you'll probably just fall asleep.

Ali and Emma are two young cousins who are going to spend the summer together in their moms' old cabin in the mountains of Maine. Emma's mother, Dulcie, is the sister of Ali's mother, Claire. Dulcie is an artist who's seeking solitude from big city life so she can concentrate on her paintings. S...more

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Oct 02, 2011 ♥Meredith Malik♥ (ŻÅŸŃ ĪŠ MĮŃĘ) marked it as to-read

All you ghost hunters out there, do you think I should read this book or not? Is it boring or exciting? Comment a yes or no.

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Sep 14, 2009 Natalie rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book, Deep and Dark and Dangerous is about a girl named Ali who finds an old photograph of three kids one is her mom the other is her aunt Dulcie but the third person is torn from the picture. Ali has about 2 months to figure out who the third person is because she is spending that time in a beach house her mom and aunt used to stay in when they were kids. Ali wanted to go to the beach with her aunt because she wanted to babysit her little cousin and she wanted to find out who the third per...more

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May 12, 2013 Sujitt rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have just finished reading the thrilling ghost story of Deep Dark and Dangerous. This suspenseful story was a work of horror by Mary Downing Hahn. It was a simple photo Alison O'Dywer finds in the attic that starts it all. It was a picture of her mother, her aunt, and a third person who's picture was scratched. When she takes a vacation to the lake with her family, she meets a short tempered girl named Sissy. But Ali felt that there was something weird about Sissy. She later finds out that Sis...more

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May 09, 2013 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars

Deep Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn is an excellent book if you're interested in paranormal books! It all started when the main character Ali was looking through her mom's old photographs. She finds a photo of her mother and siblings but then notices, there is someone ripped out of the photo. When Ali asks her mom, her mom acts as if she doesn't know what she's talking about. That summer Ali goes to the lake to spend the summer with her aunt and her cousin. This is the same lake her mom...more

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May 07, 2013 Rebecca Rogers rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Title: Deep and Dark and Dangerous
Author:Mary Downing Hahn
Publishing:Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing 2007
Price:$5.99
Genre:Horror, Chiller, Fiction

Mary Downing Hahn has been writing books since she was 41 years old, she's 75 as of today. Her first book published was The Sara Summer in 1979. She has written and published over twenty books. Deep and Dark and Dangerous was her 26th book. Most of her books take place in Maryland because that's where she grew up and lives. Mary has written some o...more

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Mar 16, 2013 Paola (A Novel Idea) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Originally posted at A Novel Idea Reviews

Rating: 2/5

The picture, old and torn, shows two little girls: Ali’s mother and her twin sister, Dulcie. They are standing beside a lake in the summertime, but what draws young Ali’s attention is the fact that there had been a third little girl in the picture. Why was she torn out of it? The mystery remains on her mind as she returns to the same lakeside house where her mother and aunt spent their childhood summers, and it deepens as it seems no one is wil...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Deep and Dark and Dangerous
Mary Downing Hahn
180 pages

Deep and Dark and Dangerous is one of my all time favorite books. Its filled with so much mystery and it makes you think really hard on what the story is about. Two girls who are cousins visit a cottage that just so happened to be where their parents stayed in during their summer vacation. When the girl's mothers were living here they met a girl named Teressa. Teressa was fisty and had a attitude. Teressa drowned in the lake when Dulcie, Emma...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Taylor Pet rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have recently finished reading the book Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn, a fantastic ghost story! In this story a girl named Ali is invited to go to Maine with her cousin Emma and her aunt, Dulcie. Ali knows her mother spent a lot of time here when she was a child. But her mother failed to inform Ali that a lot of bad things here, she just tells Ali "It's not fun, it just rainy and cold” (10). This doesn't stop Ali though, she makes the decision to go with her aunt. Unfortunat...more I have recently finished reading the book Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn, a fantastic ghost story! In this story a girl named Ali is invited to go to Maine with her cousin Emma and her aunt, Dulcie. Ali knows her mother spent a lot of time here when she was a child. But her mother failed to inform Ali that a lot of bad things here, she just tells Ali "It's not fun, it just rainy and cold” (10). This doesn't stop Ali though, she makes the decision to go with her aunt. Unfortunately when she is there she runs into someone from her mother's past, someone that her mother supposedly killed. This ghost haunts Ali and Emma throughout their time at the lake house, and gets the girls into a lot of trouble with Dulcie!

I gave this book four stars. This is the most interesting book I have read yet. Although the book isn't very big, it is packed with wild events, like when the ghost almost drowns the girls in the same lake that she died in. Mary Downing Hahn does a great job of providing visuals. For example, “Sissy ran to the end of the dock and posed in diving position. Her tanned skin contrasted with her faded blue swim suit and pale hair. “Dare me?” she called to Emma” (59).

In this novel there are a few themes based on the experiences of different characters. What we learn from Ali is that you should always follow your instincts. We learn this from her interactions with Sissy (the ghost), who Ali suspected was up to no good from the beginning. Our next theme we learn from Dulcie and this lesson is to trust in the people you love, unless you have proof that you shouldn't. This theme comes from her experiences with Ali throughout the trip. Ali has many issues with Sissy because of the fact that Sissy frames her to look bad in front of Dulcie. When a huge problem erupts Dulcie sticks up for Sissy instead of Ali for no reason, and Sissy ended up being the liar. Our final theme comes from Emma. Emma is a very guarded child. Her mother doesn’t give her much freedom, and because of this she does not have many friends. Because of this reason she strives so hard to become friends with Sissy, who she at the time did not know was a ghost. Becoming friends with Sissy backfires and almost costs Emma her life! People need to be more cautious when it comes to strangers. If Emma was more smart about this then she wouldn’t have ran into these problems in the first place. (less)

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Sep 13, 2012 Jana S rated it 5 of 5 stars

Deep, Dark, and Dangerous is a mystery and full of daring events. Emma and Alice are looking though an old box of old photos and Alice, the 13 year old, has found an old photo of her mom and her aunt. Then, she notices a human hand and the rest of the body is gone. Who was the mystery other girl? Alice must find out. Over the summer Alice has asked over 20 times to go to where the photo was taken, and wants to find out the third girl in the torn photo. When Alice and Emma get to the falls, they...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Katherine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade, decent, three-stars, read-it-if-you-want-to

Yesterday at school I went inside the library near the middle of lunch to do my homework. While I was there, a librarian gave me this book, saying they had ordered it before realizing it was too dark for my Christian school.
And I thought: You seriously clicked "order book" before you realized it was too dark for school. Seriously.
But hey, a free book?
Middle-grade books aren't my usual thing, though I have exceptions. Many have the average middle school stuff, you know, potty jokes, she-likes-thi...more Yesterday at school I went inside the library near the middle of lunch to do my homework. While I was there, a librarian gave me this book, saying they had ordered it before realizing it was too dark for my Christian school.
And I thought: You seriously clicked "order book" before you realized it was too dark for school. Seriously.
But hey, a free book?
Middle-grade books aren't my usual thing, though I have exceptions. Many have the average middle school stuff, you know, potty jokes, she-likes-this-guy-and-they're-totes-in-true-love. In all honesty, YA fiction isn't much more mature, but the little bit it has enough to keep me reading it. And like almost all middle school books, it was very short, easy to read, and got onto the plot pretty quick. Let's just say I like me some development (though YA horror novels also commonly move far too quickly for me, *cough, Bad Girls Don't Die, cough*).
Someone recommended this author to me before, but I never got around to reading her. Only today when I overslept and didn't have time to grab a library book from my stack did I let myself read this. For a book I got yesterday, I couldn't see myself reading it for quite some time. And it only 187 pages.
But like I said, it was a gift. If carrying around Stephen King's IT at school every day at school for a week or so two years ago, being the only kid in my grade who reads when they're not forced to, along with reading tons of other totes-totally-dark books ends up getting me free ones, I'm all for it. (Now I can say I look on the bright side of things.)

Ali is spending the summer with her five year old cousin and her aunt. She's having a good time, that is until she meets Sissy. Sissy is a mean girl who likes to show it, and a character I didn't particularly like.
Character development was what you'd expect from a middle grade novel, just barely there because no sixth grader who can barely stay awake through English class really cares. The writing was very middle-school-ish too, so in some ways I feel I am going a bit hard on it.
Personally, I have this problem. Many times books can be really slow and if I'm home I have a hard time finishing them because I get distracted by other things. At school I'm zooming through it at the speed of light because I have nothing else to do. Because of that, I can't give you an exact estimate on how much it made me want to read it.
And it wasn't scary. Yes, some people might be scared by it, but the plot was so easy to figure out I probably could have skipped seventy or so pages (but then it would be bad cause I might have finished the book at school and had nothing else to read). I'm not a professional reviewer of books, but if you know a middle schooler who likes this kind of thing but doesn't read teen or adult horror novels (as then they'll probably realize it is practically nothing compared to other horror novels), they might like this. Some may get scared by it, but it was very, very clean if you compare to other horror novels out there. Though it constantly mentioned the ghost's bones, it never got gory or graphic. Maybe that was what partially disappointed me. Though she's not ~Katniss Everdeen~ and the strong female character list (and I honestly wouldn't consider Katniss much of a strong female character), Ali seemed like a responsible young woman, so you can give this to a girl and know they're not reading about boy-crazy girls or damsels in distress. Yes, I would give this book to a kid. It just personally wasn't my cup of coffee.

Side note: If this book is dark, then the librarians would probably shit themselves if they read anything else I've been reading.
Another side note: Though IT was scary (and I loved IT), it only gave me nightmares two or three times. If I only got two or three nightmares from that, you can tell I probably don't get scared too easily by this stuff.(less)

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Jul 13, 2012 Abraham rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mary Downing Hahn Deep and Dark and Dangerous

Plot:

Just before summer begins, thirteen-year-old Ali finds an old photograph. She recognizes the two children. One's her mother, the other her aunt Dulcie ... but who is the third person, the one who's been torn out of the picture? Ali will have two months to figure it out, since she's spending the summer with her aunt and her cousin in the same house her mom and aunt used to visit when they were kids.

Then Ali meets Sissy. Sissy is mean, spiteful, an...more Mary Downing Hahn Deep and Dark and Dangerous

Plot:

Just before summer begins, thirteen-year-old Ali finds an old photograph. She recognizes the two children. One's her mother, the other her aunt Dulcie ... but who is the third person, the one who's been torn out of the picture? Ali will have two months to figure it out, since she's spending the summer with her aunt and her cousin in the same house her mom and aunt used to visit when they were kids.

Then Ali meets Sissy. Sissy is mean, spiteful, and determined to ruin Ali's summer. Sissy also has a secret. Could it have something to do with the old photo? Ali is dying to find out. Though, is she's not careful, that's exactly what might happen to her - die, that is.

My Review and Thoughts:

Classic creepy tale of deep dark secrets and mystery running wild. A page turner in trying to figure out what is the truth and what will the outcome be. This is a great suspenseful tale and most of all it has the spine tingling reality and that eerie atmosphere of what is happening. Hahn is able to grab the reader in the chilly reality of the tension that ghost stories are about, those classic ghost type stories of thick mystery and a hair raising ordeal.

This is like those deep secrets and lies hidden inside a family secret. That "Did you hear about the story of..." or "Where not suppose to talk about that..." or "Remember silence..".

The writing is great in that each character is written out with emotions such as the attitude shows or the situation and atmosphere are all written out giving it a story that flows to capture a complete tale. Ali is a 13 year-old girl that readers can relate to with her questions and seeking answers and wanting to know the mystery of the torn picture and so on, the whole story comes together as a tale needing to be told.

Hahn gives you just enough mystery for you to tag along chapter after chapter. The spooky reality and the tense ordeal of a death and a ghost and cover up like situation displays the very eerie moments throughout the book. You as the reader guess what’s going on in the first 70 pages but just what the outcome and the truth of the past ordeal is, is unknown which pulls you along to solve the puzzle of the eerie tale that gets under your skin at times and plays and gives you goosebumps upon your flesh.

A great book, a simple fun read for ghost lovers of all ages. The page after page ordeal leading up to the truth is filled with creepy moments that stand out and when the truth finally comes to light the tone of the book changes and you feel a certain compassion in the ordeal and the emotions switch gears as the true reality of the ghost and the past secrets and lies comes to the light to close the story.

Kind of like Nancy Drew mixed with an episode of Ghost Whisperer. The story is one the reader can understand with out having to guess or over destroy your mind to figure it out making this a fun perfect little read of that I really enjoyed and felt I became apart of it.

A great story, great characters, great spooks, great settings, a great read.
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May 21, 2012 Jose rated it 5 of 5 stars

Plot: This tale is a ghost story so mystery is something that is bound to happen. And it does. It starts out with Ali finding a torn photo in her attic. She wonders why, next to her child aged aunt and mother, is a torn out person. She then takes a vacation with her aunt and cousin to a lake that her mother told her not to go to. There she meets Sissy, a mysterious little girl with an attitude, and gets invoved in the mystery of Sissy's, and her mother and aunt's past.

Thoughts:I did enjoy this b...more

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Apr 14, 2012 Bridgette Ramsey rated it 5 of 5 stars

A picture from the past will get you wondering. If you did not know the people in it you would ask yourself, “who are these people?” You would also ask “What are they doing?” You may also ask “Where are they at?” Photographs get you thinking and wondering. That is exactly what happened to Ali in the story Deep and Dark and Dangerous. Mary Downing Hahn’s Deep and Dark and Dangerous amazed me with its eerie style and suspenseful story.

The theme of the book is friendship and the truth. It teaches y...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Ari added it

Mary Downing Hahn has created plenty of teen books the ones that simplistically can’t be put down that easily. When reading her books you get that mood of suspense and urge to keep on reading but of course this is the only thing reader’s desire. Mary has won over five awards for the most successful novels in which she has accomplished in her life. This quote is the secret in which makes her writing so unique and special, "Like the people I know, I want my characters to be a mixture of strengths...more Mary Downing Hahn has created plenty of teen books the ones that simplistically can’t be put down that easily. When reading her books you get that mood of suspense and urge to keep on reading but of course this is the only thing reader’s desire. Mary has won over five awards for the most successful novels in which she has accomplished in her life. This quote is the secret in which makes her writing so unique and special, "Like the people I know, I want my characters to be a mixture of strengths and weaknesses, to have good and bad qualities, to be a little confused and unsure of themselves." This is just a piece of what Mary Downing Hahn is willing to reveal about her amazing writing but in order to figure out the missing puzzle piece of Deep, Dark and Dangerous you just have to keep your eyes glued to this book REPORT!

There are many characters in which play essential roles in this story and those are Ali,Sissy,Teresa,Emma and lastly Dulcie,Claire. Ali is an eleven year old girl in the sixth grade that is not quiet enjoying the peculiar mood of the Gull Cottage in which it lies still and gloomy. Sissy is that type of girl that has a double identity, one side that is shown to others while the other is hidden and just fades and vanishes away. Sissy is that girl with perplexing thoughts and actions in which just causes trouble to everyone near her.Is she a ghost acting like Teresa and in aim for revenge towards both Claire and Dulcie because of the “deed” OR could it possibly be that Sissy's existence is truly ALL bones and nothing but a true spirit willing to scare and startle the presence of others. Spooky right? Teresa is a young teen that has passed away because of the deed in which happened by a canoe sinking and as she drowned her bones lightly lay flatly on the deep and dark river. Concluding, that Dulcie and Claire are just sisters that never understood one another and never understood the meaning of an apology as well. These two are responsible for the “deed” done. Everyone blames them but their physical apperance makes it impossible to believe.

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Apr 05, 2012 Emily rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: readsfrom2012

Emily Shepard
Horror
Thirteen year old Ali wants so badly to go to Maine for the summer. But her mother wanted her to be as far away from her families cottage in Maine as she possibly could. With lots of pleading from Alis' young cousin, Emma, and her Aunt Dulcie her mother reluctantly agreed. Ali was looking forward to spending the summer away from home and working for her aunt as Emma's babysitter. When they arrive everything was just as Aunt Dulcie had remembered, except for the name Teresa. Th...more

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Mar 10, 2012 04Meganb added it

If the cover isn't scary enough, read the book! This book was released in 2007. It was written by Mary Downing Hahn. I thought for sure because it was a reading more for a younger teen, it really wouldn't be that scary. It was definitely not what I thought! It was greatly written though. I loved it! It was an intriguing book. I got hooked! I read it so quickly because of the intensity!

The story is about how a young girl named Ali finds an old picture of her mom, her aunt, and another girl tor...more If the cover isn't scary enough, read the book! This book was released in 2007. It was written by Mary Downing Hahn. I thought for sure because it was a reading more for a younger teen, it really wouldn't be that scary. It was definitely not what I thought! It was greatly written though. I loved it! It was an intriguing book. I got hooked! I read it so quickly because of the intensity!

The story is about how a young girl named Ali finds an old picture of her mom, her aunt, and another girl torn out. When she asks her mom who it is, she disagrees that there was someone else in the picture. Ali is going to spend some of the summer with her Aunt Dulcie, the one in the picture, and her daughter Emma at a little cottage where her mom and Dulcie spent time at when they were young. When they get there, Ali takes Emma swimming which is where they meet a girl named Sissy. She wasn't a very nice girl. Something always felt a little weird with her. She talked a lot about a girl named Teresa that had drowned in the lake a long time ago. Sissy is always bullying and teasing Ali and Emma. Ali always tries to find out where Sissy runs off too. One day Sissy stops by and is bothering Ali, so she leaves and Ali starts trying to figure out where she went. She ends up at Teresa's grave. They then find out that Sissy is really Teresa, who is the other girl in the picture who is Ali's mom and Dulcie's sister. They also find out that all Sissy/Teresa really wants is a proper burial. That's why she was being mean and annoying. She wanted to figure out her story to help her.

I would definitely recommend this book! I thought is was great! I could not put it down! A lot of times through out the book I would try to predict what would happen next. A few times I was right, but you just never knew what was going to happen every time they ran into Sissy/Teresa. The way this book make you feel was crazy! It felt like you were in the moment emotionally. Like I said, I thought it was written incredibly. I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this book.(less)

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Feb 13, 2012 Barb Middleton rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Ali finds a ripped photo of her Aunt Dulcie, Mom Claire, and a mysterious girl whose name starts with the letter “T”. When Aunt Dulcie asks Ali to spend the summer at their lake home babysitting her daughter, four-year-old Emma, Ali uncovers the name of the girl in the photo and her tragic death 30 years ago. Emma makes friends with a girl named Sissy who tells her and Ali about the tragedy. Sissy is a spiteful girl and causes all sorts of trouble between Dulcie, Ali, and Emma. Will the family b...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Mackenzie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Thirteen-year-old Ali is ready for summer. While rummaging through a box of books that belonged to her Grandmother, Ali finds an old photograph. She recognizes two of the three children. One is her mother, the other her Aunt Dulcie, but she questions the third person who’s head has been torn out of the picture.
The picture is soon forgotten when Ali goes to spend the summer with her aunt and cousin. It’s the same house that Ali’s mom and her Aunt used to visit when they were kids. Ali doesn’t th...more

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Jul 19, 2011 Shaundell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: byu-books-for-young-readers, ghost-stories, young-adult, mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 13, 2011 Jodi rated it 2 of 5 stars

2012 Nutmeg Nominee

Deep and Dark and Dangerous was a satisfying ghost story that I think readers will enjoy. It was a quick, suspenseful read through most of it and only began to drag in the final chapters.
Ali's aunt and mother harbor a strange and dark secret involving a childhood summer in Maine. Although Ali's mother has no desire to ever visit that place again, her sister, Dorsie, decides to spend the summer there. Ali, in spite of her mother's protests, goes along to care for her cousin Emm...more

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Apr 11, 2011 Nellee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Review from my blog: http://nelleehorne.blogspot.com/

I bought this at Goodwill because it was so cheap and I love ghost stories! I read it during a thunderstorm which added suspense to an already suspenseful book. It was written for, at least this is what is says on amazon, 6-8 year-olds, but I thought it was a great read for someone at least ten years older than the age group. It was scary and, unlike a lot of books I read, the ending shocked me. It was unpredictable which means it was a fantas...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Andrea Vazquez rated it 5 of 5 stars

Deep and Dark and Dangerous is fiction and mystery is a really good book and the story takes place in Main.

The main character Ali is a young girl who lives her mom and dad but her mom has so issues she gets upset about everything and she gets this migraines and she is always locked up in her room when she has the migraines. her dad is very nice and he is a hardworking man who loves ali very much. One day when Ali was looking around in the attic she finds this old picture and she recognizes her...more Deep and Dark and Dangerous is fiction and mystery is a really good book and the story takes place in Main.

The main character Ali is a young girl who lives her mom and dad but her mom has so issues she gets upset about everything and she gets this migraines and she is always locked up in her room when she has the migraines. her dad is very nice and he is a hardworking man who loves ali very much. One day when Ali was looking around in the attic she finds this old picture and she recognizes her mom Claire and her aunt Dulcie when they were kids but also she noticed that there was another girl to the other side of her mom but that part of the picture was torn and all she could see was part of the hand and in the back the letter T. Ali then went to her mom and ask her who was the girl that was torn out of the picture but her mom got mad at her and said she didn't know and when Ali told her the first letter of the girl's name her mom said she didn't knew anyone with the name that started with a T. Days later her aunt came over and ask Ali to go with her to the lake where she and her mom just to go in the summer when they were little Ali was so exited and she really wanted to go. She was also going to babysit her little cousin Emma but when she ask her mom to let her go she refused to let her go and then she ask her dad and he said it was ok with him so they convinced her mother to let her go so she finally decided that she could go. When they got to the lake they settle in and while her aunt paint it in her studio she and Emma would play around and then Ali would read to Emma. one day Ali and Emma were playing outside in the lake when they saw this girl sitting in a rock so they went to talk to her and she told them her name was sissy. Sissy was a mean selfish girl at first she was nice to Emma and Ali but then she would get mean with then she was very mysterious. Sissy then became a bad influence for Emma because since she started to hangout with Sissy, Emma started to change she wasn't the nice girl anymore she would blame Ali for Everything and say that Ali wanted to hurt her and that she was mean to her. Even though Ali and her aunt try to keep her away from Sissy, Emma still try to get near her and still hangout with her and play with her. The most weirdest thing about Sissy was that she started talking about a girl named Teresa who drawn in the very same lake when Ali's aunt and mom just to come here in the summers. At first Ali though that Sissy was trying to scared her with that story but later on in the book Eli finds out who really is Sissy and what she wanted. to find out happen next you need to read the book.(less)

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About Mary Downing Hahn

I grew up in a small shingled house down at the end of Guilford Road in College Park, Maryland. Our block was loaded with kids my age. We spent hours outdoors playing "Kick the Can" and "Mother, May I" as well as cowboy and outlaw games that usually ended in quarrels about who shot whom. In the summer, we went on day long expeditions into forbidden territory -- the woods on the other side of the t...more I grew up in a small shingled house down at the end of Guilford Road in College Park, Maryland. Our block was loaded with kids my age. We spent hours outdoors playing "Kick the Can" and "Mother, May I" as well as cowboy and outlaw games that usually ended in quarrels about who shot whom. In the summer, we went on day long expeditions into forbidden territory -- the woods on the other side of the train tracks, the creek that wound its way through College Park, and the experimental farm run by the University of Maryland.

In elementary school, I was known as the class artist. I loved to read and draw but I hated writing reports. Requirements such as outlines, perfect penmanship, and following directions killed my interest in putting words on paper. All those facts -- who cared what the principal products of Chile were? To me, writing reports was almost as boring as math.

Despite my dislike of writing, I loved to make up stories. Instead of telling them in words, I told them in pictures. My stories were usually about orphans who ran away and had the sort of exciting adventures I would have enjoyed if my mother hadn't always interfered.

When I was in junior high school, I developed an interest in more complex stories. I wanted to show how people felt, what they thought, what they said. For this, I needed words. Although I wasn't sure I was smart enough, I decided to write and illustrate children's books when I grew up. Consequently, at the age of thirteen, I began my first book. Small Town Life was about a girl named Susan, as tall and skinny and freckle faced as I was. Unlike her shy, self conscious creator, however, Susan was a leader who lived the life I wanted to live -- my ideal self, in other words. Although I never finished Small Town Life, it marked the start of a lifelong interest in writing.

In high school, I kept a diary. In college, I wrote poetry and short stories and dreamed of being published in The New Yorker. Unfortunately, I didn't have the courage or the confidence to send anything there.

By the time my first novel was published, I was 41 years old. That's how long it took me to get serious about writing. The Sara Summer took me a year to write, another year to find a publisher, and yet another year of revisions before Clarion accepted it.

Since Sara appeared in 1979, I've written an average of one book a year. If I have a plot firmly in mind when I begin, the writing goes fairly quickly. More typically, I start with a character or a situation and only a vague idea of what's going to happen. Therefore, I spend a lot of time revising and thinking things out. If I'd paid more attention to the craft of outlining back in elementary school, I might be a faster writer, but, on the other hand, if I knew everything that was going to happen in a story, I might be too bored to write it down. Writing is a journey of discovery. That's what makes it so exciting.(less)

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“The water is DEEP AND DARK AND DANGEROUS” — 5 people liked it

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Deep and Dark and Dangerous: A Ghost Story

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