Wait Till Helen Comes

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Hahn based the title of her novel on the short horror story, “Wait Till Martin Comes,” a traditional tale retold in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz (1981). Read “Wait Till Martin Comes” aloud. How does the author create suspense in the story? What do you think will happen when Martin arrives? Why might Hahn have titled her novel after this story? Make a prediction regarding what might happen when Helen arrives in Hahn’s novel.

Teaching Suggestion: Suspense, foreshadowing, atmosphere, and allusion are key elements in Hahn’s novel and the horror genre. Reviewing these literary devices will help students to think critically about the novel.

• Rather than reading the story aloud, consider listening to a version of “Wait Till Martin Comes” on YouTube.

2. Horror novels rely on the use of several literary devices to create a “scary” story. In a brief journal-style paragraph, discuss what makes a story “scary.” Next, watch several short clips from a variety of horror films. With your class, review the definitions of literary elements and techniques such as mood, setting, atmosphere, and suspense. Then return to your journal entry to compare and contrast the film clips, pointing out examples of these elements. Which clips are most effective at utilizing these elements? Which are least successful? Finally, rate each of the clips from 1 to 5 in terms of how “scary” each one is, with 5 being the scariest. Share with your classmates the reasons why the film clip you chose is the scariest.

Teaching Suggestion: It can be challenging for students to identify literary devices in a text. Using film clips increases engagement and may help them to recognize these elements. This understanding can be transferred to textual analysis.

• Consider sharing or discussing segments from the films Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019), A Quiet Place (2018), Poltergeist (1982), Ghostbusters (1984), The Birds (1963), and The House on Haunted Hill (1959). (Be sure to pre-screen each clip for appropriateness before viewing in class.)
• Common Sense Media offers a good list of scary movies for kids, reviewing them based on criteria such as the presence of role models, language, violence, and more.

Short Activity

Practice your fiction writing skills with a Scary Story Swap. Work in a group of 4 or 5 students. Each student begins writing an individual response to this scary story prompt: “One dark and stormy night, I…” After 5 minutes of writing, everyone in the group will pass their story to the writer next to them. You now have 5 minutes to pick up the writing of the story where the previous student left off. When time is up, pass this story on, and begin adding on to the next story. You should receive a new story with each pass. On the pass before you receive back the story you began, give the story you currently hold an exciting conclusion. Take turns reading each story aloud in your group.

Teaching Suggestion: Have each group choose an especially effective or device-filled story and read it aloud to the whole class.