64 pages • 2 hours read
Mary Downing HahnClosed for the Season
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary
Arthur is over the next morning for breakfast once again. Logan’s parents are busy arguing about paint colors, so the boys sneak into the attic to look through all of Mrs. Donaldson’s old things with Bear right behind them. They find a multitude of trinkets, from books, pots, and broken lamps to old newspapers. While they are looking through her things, they notice that Bear has begun to “nose through a box of old kitchen stuff, whimpering and whining to himself” (61). Bear wags his tail and barks when Arthur finds what he is looking for. Arthur pulls out a bag filled with plastic toys from the Magic Forest gift shop, along with a letter to Violet. In the letter, Mrs. Donaldson reveals to her daughter that she has a hunch who stole the money. During her lunch break, Mrs. Donaldson searched the suspect’s office and found a briefcase with his initials, and within it, an immense amount of money. In an attempt to prove her own innocence, she stole the briefcase and buried it in the place where they “used to play the finding game with the little plastic gingerbread men” (63). The letter is only half finished and cuts off after Mrs. Donaldson tells Violet not to be scared of an unnamed woman. Logan and Arthur theorize that the killer must have arrived while she was writing the letter.
Just then, Bear begins to bark and growl. Logan’s father, Billy, and Johnny come up the stairs and into the attic to help haul the things away. Logan, Arthur, and Bear head back downstairs and make a plan to go to the library before finding Violet at Wal-Mart.
Chapter 10 Summary
At the library, Arthur and Logan make an extra copy of the letter, just in case. Afterward, they head to Wal-Mart on their bikes. They head inside and find Violet in the office supplies section talking to a customer. Once they get closer to the pair, they realize that Violet is actually speaking to Silas. Silas is threatening and clearly intimidates Violet as she “seemed to shrink into herself” (67). Silas backs Violet up into a corner and insists that her kids are his as well. He is yelling and Logan gets nervous as Silas seems the type to “pull out a gun and start firing” (68). Violet cowers under Silas’s yelling until he eventually turns to leave, roaring off on his motorcycle.
Arthur and Logan hurry to Violet’s side; she has been crying. Arthur introduces Logan to her, and she asks about Bear. Danny apparently wanted to keep him but Silas refused. After an interaction with a rude customer, Violet promises to return to them. Soon after, Arthur hands her the Magic Forest bag and the letter. She immediately begins tearing up, but she does not remember who else might have worked at the park or where they used to play the finding game.
Arthur is entirely oblivious to Violet’s tears and continues to press her for answers that she does not seem to have. Violet’s manager catches them talking and threatens to leave a comment on her file. Logan apologizes for getting her in trouble. She begs to be able to keep the note, and the boys agree, asking her to keep it a secret. Arthur asks her to try and figure out what Mrs. Donaldson meant in her note, and Violet promises. Outside, they get on their bikes and Arthur zooms off, giving Logan no choice but to follow and see the Phelpses’ and Jarmons’ homes.
Chapter 11 Summary
Logan and Arthur make their way to the Phelps and Jarmon property, where they see misspelled and “crudely lettered signs nailed to trees warning strangers away” (71). Arthur does not seem to be intimidated by the signs, nor by Silas’s presence on the compound. Logan is especially afraid, however, when they see Silas emerge from the mobile home with Danny. The two boys hide and spy on Danny begging his father for a ride on the motorcycle. Danny is painfully disappointed by his father’s rejection and apathy as Silas drives off.
Danny’s little sister, May, comes to fetch him and they both head back inside. Soon after, Johnny and Billy pull up with all of Mrs. Donaldson’s things that they’d taken from Logan’s attic. Logan and Arthur overhear the two older boys arguing over where the money might be. Johnny is unconvinced that Mrs. Donaldson had the money, while Billy is certain. Danny comes back outside and asks to tag along with Johnny and Billy, but he is rejected again.
Just then, the dogs emerge and begin chasing Logan and Arthur off the lot. The boys quickly get on their bikes and race home. When they arrive home, they discover that Violet and Mrs. Jenkins have been puzzling over the note together. Violet suggests that she might be able to remember if she could see an old map of the Magic Forest. The next day, Arthur and Logan go to the library to find a copy of the map. Neither of them has enough money for a photocopy, so to Logan’s horror, Arthur steals the map. They then speed off to Wal-Mart to find Violet while Logan bemoans their new status as criminals.
Chapter 12 Summary
The boys find Violet at Wal-Mart, but she tells them to keep the map of the Magic Forest because Silas stole the note from her the night before. Silas then headed to the library, something that confused Violet as Silas is not an avid reader. Arthur then prompts Logan to go to the library with him to spy on Silas. Logan is not a fan of this plan but follows anyway. As they’re leaving, Violet tells Arthur to let his grandmother know that she’ll be coming to stay for a few nights with Danny and May. Arthur encourages her to do so, despite his own misgivings about living with Danny.
The boys rush off to the library to steal the other two copies of the Magic Forest maps. After grabbing the remaining maps, they dodge Silas and rush into the men’s room to hide. Though Silas does not see them, many others do, including the old lady whose feet Logan crawled over in his desperate attempt to avoid being spotted by Silas. An old lady tells the librarian and Silas that she saw Logan and Arthur rooting through the file cabinet. Mrs. Jones finds them in the restroom and demands they apologize to the elderly woman. Silas is furious and aware that they may have stolen the rest of the maps. Mrs. Jones, however, does not let Silas get to them. Instead, she punishes them for their rude behavior by bringing them into the backroom and having them stamp due dates on blank cards for her.
On their way out, the boys spot Silas waiting for them outside of the staff room. Logan is frustrated that Arthur is seemingly unconcerned by the threat of Silas’s presence. However, Arthur leads them out of the delivery entrance where they get their bikes and ride away. They are racing off when they swerve to avoid Nina; Logan hurts himself, but continues on, brushing off Nina’s concern as they rush towards the cemetery. The boys hear the sound of Silas’s motorcycle behind them.
Chapters 9-12 Analysis
This section gives the readers a more in-depth understanding of the Phelpses, especially Violet and Danny. As members of the lower class, Violet, Danny, and May are left at the whims of the people around them. Violet, though an adult, appears especially meek and uncertain. She is in a constant state of fear: afraid of her abusive ex-husband, afraid of displeasing uppity customers, and terrified of losing her job and only source of income. Violet’s fear reflects the terror that she felt as a child when she saw the Witch’s Hut in the amusement park. Danny, on the other hand, is still Arthur’s self-declared nemesis. In the previous section, Danny clearly bullies Logan and Arthur. In this section, however, it is clear that Danny is rejected not only by his father, but also by most of the other people in his life. This rejection and lack of affection becomes especially clear later in the novel, when Danny’s love for Bear seems to show that the dog has been the only constant source of comfort for him—comfort that has been repeatedly denied to him by both his parents for different reasons.
Hahn’s portrayal of class division and hierarchy culminate in Silas Phelps, the town crook. He has been released from jail, and this kicks off the rising action of the novel. His appearance forces the boys to make a desperate bid at the old maps of the amusement park. As the mystery deepens, the boys, however, get into trouble. Due to their lack of money, the boys are forced to steal the maps. This set of circumstances seems to echo the one at large: the Phelpses, Jarmons, and O’Neils commit crimes, but do they do so because of a lack of choice? Are they, too, in some way led to a life of crime due to circumstances outside of their control? These are some of the questions raised by Hahn in this section of the novel and explored in the rest of the book.
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