Ghosts at the Window

Ghosts at the Window by Margaret McAllister Dutton Children's Books, 2002, 119 pp., $15.99 Mystery/Ghosts/Scotland ISBN: 0-525-46852-8

Young Ewan Dart has moved to Scotland, and discovers that his brand new house, a huge stone mansion, has the strange habit of "playing tricks on his senses." Out of nowhere, it seems, the new home changes "centuries." For brief but startling moments, Ewan can see people from the past, and they can see him.

One night, alone in his bedroom, Evan encounters the ghost of Elspeth, a girl who died in 1937. The young Elspeth has never been able to leave the temporal world of the living, and join her friends on "the other side." Terrified of something that lurks in Evan's closet, and desperate to find eternal rest, the ghost Elspeth pleads for Ewan's help.

Adventure and mishap ensues as Ewan helps Elspeth escape, and overcomes his own fears about the presence of more ghosts. Middle school students will embrace this fast-paced, easy read tale of adventure and mystery, and teachers will delight in a book that reluctant readers will find historically intriguing, and delightfully engaging.

Jeffrey S. Kaplan

Orlando, Fl

Copyright Assembly on Literature for Adolescents -- National Council of Teachers of English Fall 2002
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