In this book we see many different themes that are present in middle grade ages. She comes back as ghost and is making Annie’s life a living hell. One of the influenza victims is Elsie Schneider and now Annie and the rest of the girls feel so bad about themselves for being mean and tormenting the last time they saw Elsie. Young and old people, men and women, even children are not spared. Soon, Mount Pleasant and the whole Baltimore is mourning their dead. In the midst of the epidemic, people start wearing masks and take precautions but they are not always fruitful. Soon she becomes part of their gang, and she is no longer an outcast. One day, Elsie doesn’t come to school, so Annie get’s the chance to actually meet her other classmates and hang out and play with them.

This doesn’t end well and Annie tries to find a way to not be friends with Elsie any more, but Elsie doesn’t take it. But Elsie seems to envy her for her home, her parents, her room and her toys. When Elsie invites herself at Annie’s home after school, Annie doesn’t feel easy, but she guesses that at some point, Elsie will have to go back to her place. Annie is not comfortable with that, but what can she do? What could she possibly say? She didn’t know this girl before and she didn’t know that Elsie has no other friends. The decision for the girls to be best friends is Elsie’s alone.

The Germans are not good people, they are the ones that started this war, where many fathers and uncles have gone to fight. Her last name, which is German, is a reason for the rest of the girls to make fun at her. Her classmates want nothing to do with her because she is mean, a liar and a thief. And that’s because Elsie Schneider has no friends, even though she’s been going to the same school for a while now. Alas, the one girl that has no other friend in her class decides that Annie will be her best friend. She is the new girl at this school and all she wants is to make some friends and have a happy school year. Troops from the USA have been sent over the Atlantic to fight with the allies, while back home the influenza epidemic breaks out.Īnnie Brown has just moved to Mount Pleasant. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately.It’s 1918 and the war is burning Europe. This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Closed for the Season (2010).Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for Stepping on the Cracks (1992).The Puppet's Payback: And Other Chilling Tales (2020).Don't Give Up the Ghost (1993, contributor).

One for sorrow book mary downing hahn