The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

Reviewed by Lori

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall

Title: The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall

Author: Katie Alender

Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 128177

Description: Sixteen-year-old Cordelia and her family move into the house they just inherited in Pennsylvania, a former insane asylum the locals call Hysteria Hall, unfortunately, the house does not want defiant girls like Delia, so it kills her, and as she wanders the house, meeting the other ghosts and learning the dark secrets of the Hall, she realizes that she has to find a way to save her sister, parents, and perhaps herself.

Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud It

Why I Read It:  The title.

Notes:  I chose this book based strictly on the title.  I love ghost and horror stories and this book did not disappoint.  Delia and her family are off to spend the summer in the home she has inherited from her namesake – Cordelia Piven.  What they don’t realize is that the home is actually a former asylum for troubled women known locally as hysteria hall.  As soon as Delia enters the institute she knows she shouldn’t be there.  Unfortunately, she can’t convince her parents or sister Janie to leave.  But something is haunting hysteria hall and it’s after troubled women.   Unfortunately for Delia and her family, the entity gets what it wants and Delia awakes to find herself one of the dead girls haunting hysteria hall.  I really enjoyed this read and finished the book in one day.  It’s not an onerous read just a fun one and if you like ghost stories about mental institutions this one fits the bill.  I could very much imagine this story as a movie as I was reading it.  I was intrigued with each of the ghosts’ back stories and what the evil entity might actually be.  I wasn’t surprised by any of the twists in the plot but I did like how the progression of time was acknowledged and the resolution of the novel.  If you’re looking for a fun supernatural read this is the one for you.

 Recommended Readers: Grade 9+  

 Cross-Genre Links: 
Movie: 13 Ghosts
Movie: The House on Haunted Hill
Movie: The Others
Music: I always feel like Somebody's Watching Me performed by Rockwell
Websearch: Hauntings
Websearch: Asylums for Women

 Inquiries and Activities: 

  • Why does Cordelia leave Hysteria Hall to Delia? What does she want her to do?
  • Would you want to spend the night in a haunted house or asylum?
  • What are some of the reasons that a woman may have been committed to an asylum?
  • Write your own back story for a ghost that might live at Hysteria Hall.  Who is she? What time period did she live in? What did she do (if anything) to get committed to Hysteria Hall?
  • How does Delia spend her time?  How might your perception of time change if you don't change with time?
  • How do the ghosts interact with the living?
  • Were you surprised by any of the characters?  
  • Why is it important for Delia to communicate with her family after her passing?
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for Reading!

Popular posts from this blog

The Poet's Dog by Patricia MacLachlan

Reviewed by Lori
Image
Title: The Poet's Dog Author: Patricia MacLachlan Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 127678 Description:   An abandoned dog, able to speak only to poets and children, rescues a pair of young children stranded in the forest. Together, they find a way to overcome their losses. Rubric Rating: Level 4 - Love It Why I Read It: Poetry and Dogs... what more can I say.  Notes: This is one of those novels that I absolutely love.  It is written for a younger audience but there are deeper aspects to the story that are very appealing to an adult reader.   The story is encapsulated within 88 pages, and spells out the story of Teddy, the poet's dog, whose master has passed away, and Flora and Nickel, two children he finds lost in a blizzard.   The children are left in a car by their mother as she goes to look for help after getting stuck in the snow.  The children get scared and leave the vehicle and get lost in the woods where they are found by Teddy who brings them home.  Flo
Read more

Brain Jack by Brian Falkner

Reviewed by Lori
Image
Title: Brain Jack Author: Brian Falkner Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 128664 Description:   In a near-future New York City, computer genius Sam Wilson manages to hack into the AT&T network and sets off a chain of events that have a profound effect on human activity throughout the world. Rubric Rating: Level 4 - Love It! Why I Read It: Interesting write up in the catalogue and a growing interest in tech-related reading. Notes: Sam is a seventeen-year-old Hacker, one of the best around.  So good that he is able to hack into the telecomerica head offices and order a couple of "neuro" headsets for himself and his friend Fargas.  The latest technology that allows you to directly access the computer network using only your brain.  But Sam's hacking brings down services for three days - something that will go down in history.  That's when the CDD (the cyber defence division) start watching him.  It's not long before they hack Sam back and he's arrested.
Read more

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Reviewed by Lori
Image
Title:  All the Light We Cannot See Author: Anthony Doerr Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 98669 Description:  A blind French girl on the run from the German occupation and a German orphan-turned-Resistance tracker struggle with their respective beliefs after a fortuitous meeting on the Brittany coast. Rubric Rating: Level 4 - Love It! Why I Read it: This book has been on my reading list for awhile and it was recommended to me by several people. Lori's Notes: This was a fantastic novel.  It may seem overwhelming in terms of size but the individual chapters are very short and read almost like mini short stories within the book.  The characters alternate between Marie-Laure a blind Parisian girl, and Werner an orphan German boy. Marie-Laure's father, Daniel LeBlanc, works in a Paris Museum as a key master and designs intricate puzzle boxes for his daughter.  Werner lives in a children's home with his sister Jutta and because of his interest in radios is quickly recruit
Read more