Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story - Hardcover

Hahn, Mary Downing

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395665566 ISBN 13: 9780395665565

Publisher: Clarion Books, 1994

Synopsis

When he goes to spend the summer with his great-aunt in the family's old house, eleven-year-old Drew is drawn eighty years into the past to trade places with his great-great-uncle who is dying of diphtheria.

About this title

About the Author:

Mary Downing Hahn, a former children’s librarian, is the award-winning author of many popular ghost stories. An avid reader, traveler, and all-around arts lover, Ms. Hahn lives in Columbia, Maryland. Visit her online at www.marydowninghahnbooks.com.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Staying with Great-Aunt Blythe in the ancestral home while his parents are on a dig, ``Drew''--so called because his great- grandfather Edward abhors his full name--is immediately aware of a presence in the attic. It's another boy, also named Andrew, also 12, and identical to Drew in appearance, though not in character. The gently reared Drew is timid; Andrew's a prankster and a daredevil, as Drew finds after Andrew persuades him to trade places so that Andrew's diptheria can be cured by modern medicine. Drew finds himself in 1910, where he faces an adoring younger brother's disgust at his sudden wimpiness, observes tomboyish older sister Hannah's romance, scraps with obnoxious Cousin Edward, and gets routine (though not vicious) punishments with Andrew's father's belt. Meanwhile, Andrew's life is saved, but--not sure he wants to switch back--he suggests a contest with the marbles he's hidden in the attic where the boys met. Hannah, who taught Andrew his skill, now helps Drew to win so that he can return to his own time. Like Pearce's Tom's Midnight Garden, the pleasurably atmospheric story ends with Drew's reunion with now elderly people from the past; the Missouri setting and neatly crafted, accessible plot make this a fine bridge to that British classic. Meanwhile, the sampling of past mores is as entertaining as it is instructive, and each boy's well-drawn character is believably enriched by emulating the other to preserve his disguise. Another solid and enjoyable performance from this popular, award-winning author. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0395665566
• ISBN 13: 9780395665565
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176