The Old Willis Place

Hahn, Mary Downing. The Old Wills Place 

Graphic novel adapted by Scott Peterson; 

Meredith Laxton and Sienna Haralson (Illustrators) 

July 16, 2024 by Clarion Books 

E ARC provided by Netgalley

**Spoilers, if you haven't read the 2004 original.**

Diana and Georgie are intrigued when yet another caretaker moves into the trailer on the old Wills place. The remote property has been derelict for years, ever since Lilian Willis died and the county took ownership of it. Diana would like to have a friend, but Georgie reminds her of the "rules" that they have to follow after a horrible thing happened. Diana and Georgie's father died, and their mother worked for Mrs. Willis, who was very mean to everyone, especially the children. Lissa, the caretaker's daughter. lost her mother when she was very young, and has lived a peripatetic lifestyle with her writer father, who used to teach but now takes small jobs to keep the two financially afloat while he tries to write. Lissa writes in her diary about the creepy things that people say happen at the house, but doesn't quite believe them. When her bike is stolen and ruined, even though the property is fenced and no one should have been able to get in, and she hears weird noises, she starts to doubt herself. Diana is so curious that she breaks into Lissa's room while she is sleeping, and Georgie steals Tedward, the stuffed bear Lissa's mother had given her. This is alarming, but Lissa eventually agrees to meet Diana. Diana and Georgie live in an abandoned shack, never wear shoes, and look like feral children, but never seem to be cold or hungry. Having scared Lissa with her appearance once, she cleans up and finds old clothes of Mrs. Willis' that aren't rags. Lissa is less scared of her, and the two become somewhat reluctant friends. There are questions, of course, but Diana tells Lissa and her father that their family lives across the highway in a new housing development. When Lissa breaks the rules and goes into the house because she wants to see a ghost, she unleashes Mrs. Willis' ghost. Once this happens, the true nature of Diana and Georgie's existence is revealed, and the new friends must work together to rectify the situations of the past. 

Strengths: There are several other graphic novel adaptations of Hahn's work (Took, All the Lovely Bad Ones, Wait Till Helen Comes), and there are still lots of fans for her creepy, violent ghost stories. The artwork is nicely atmospheric, and Diana and Georgie's feral lifestyle is captured well. Lissa makes very typical tween decisions, not all of which are good, and this leads to some of the problems. It's good to address these problems, of course, since they have existed for a very long time. Astute readers will pick up on the clues that tell us how long this has been. This has a nicely formulaic feel to it (although not as formulaic as Betty Ren Wright's work) that makes it somewhat less scary. 
Weaknesses: This is really a rather disturbing book. The mystery of Diana and Georgie is (highlight for spoilers) that they were locked in a basement room by Mrs. Willis when they irritated her, and the old lady then suffered a stroke and the children died in the room. No one ever questioned Mrs. Willis, and she was never punished. Lissa informs her father and the police, and the decades old bodies are removed from the house. 
What I really think: I'm not sure that my graphic novel readers will read the diary entries, which are just text. I don't have a copy of the original book to compare them to, but assume they are pretty much copied from the novel. I might buy a copy anyway, since there aren't that many creepy graphic novels, but this wasn't my favorite, since the ick factor was pretty high. I don't think I would put it in an elementary school library.