Books › Time for Andrew
Time for Andrew
a ghost story
176 pages
A creepy, ticking-clock ghost story where the past reaches out to steal the present.
What it feels like
This atmospheric juvenile fiction delivers a spine-tingling blend of time travel and supernatural suspense. The mood is immediately creepy, anchoring the reader in a shadowy old family mansion where history refuses to stay buried. As the narrative unfolds, the pace quickens into a brisk, urgent race against time, driven by the unsettling premise of a stolen identity and a desperate need to return home. The prose is accessible yet steeped in eerie tension, perfectly capturing the vulnerability of a boy separated from his parents and thrust into a ghostly dilemma. It is an ideal read for middle-grade fans who crave a suspenseful, emotionally earnest adventure about family secrets, facing mortality, and the terrifying thrill of stepping into another era.
- Mood
- creepy
- shadowy
- tense
- nostalgic
- Tone
- eerie
- urgent
- earnest
- suspenseful
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- identity and displacement · family history · facing mortality · the passage of time
- The writing
- Accessible and atmospheric, balancing the grounded fears of childhood with supernatural suspense.
- The arc
- Moves from unsettling isolation in an unfamiliar house to desperate urgency as a stolen life must be reclaimed.
- Who it's for
- Young readers who love a spine-tingling mystery wrapped in a time-travel adventure.
Content notes
- childhood illness
- ghosts
- fear of death
- separation from parents
About the book
When his parents go on an archaeological dig for the summer, Drew is sent into the care of his Aunt Blythe at the old family mansion. He finds the old house creepy, made creepier when he finds a bag of marbles with a warning note and an old, old, picture of a dead boy who looked exactly like him. Aunt Blythe, against Drew’s will, takes the bag of marbles, and that night he is visited by the ghost of the boy in the picture, also named Andrew.The two twins swap clothes, and they are whisked to each other’s times. Drew wants to go back to his time but Andrew, who was dying of a disease, insists that he should stay. Now, it is up to Drew to find a way back to his own time, before it is too late.
Description from Open Library.
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