Ghost in the Window

by Betty Ren Wright

Only the ghost knows the truth.

Meg's dreams sometimes predict the future. This summer, her dreams are scary ones--nightmares she hopes will never come true. Sometimes she even sees a ghost in her dreams. He seems to be calling out for help. What does he want from Meg?

Meg's not sure--until she discovers a mystery that no one's ever solved. Could the ghost in her nightmares have something to do with the mystery? What is the secret the ghost wants her to find?

A sequel to The Secret Window

Genres: Fiction, Horror, Childrens, Middle Grade, Ghosts, Young Adult, Mystery

152 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1987

About the author

Betty Ren Wright was an award-winning author of children's fiction including The Dollhouse Murders, The Ghosts Of Mercy Manor and A Ghost in The House.

Known for her ghost stories and mysteries, Wright published 28 children's novels between 1981 and 2006, as well as picture books and short stories. Prior to pursuing her career as a full-time author in 1978, she worked as an editor of children's books.

Wright lived in Wisconsin with her husband, painter George A. Fredericksen, until her death in 2013.

Reviews

[C. (Don't blank click my reviews, comment please! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Betty Ren Wright is highly appreciated by me. I acquainted her in this decade, even though stories like this 1987 one, came out in my childhood. Much prolific output is prey to the chocolate box conundrum: a few contain coconut, instead of the gooey caramel or sumptuous nuttiness. No one was allergic to nuts in the 1980s, by the way. Ditch cow’s milk. We are the only species who drinks another species’ milk, as adults to boot.

A problem the 1980s and 1990s did have in literature, is a million stories that all started their adventures with a teenager angry about going somewhere forcibly. This novel differs only in the Mother figure being an unimaginably selfish whiner. She is supposedly depressed about having gotten a divorce but even as a fellow woman: I get the separation! Writers earn zilch for awhile, if we are going to dare working at it seriously towards a career. Meg’s Mom did not support her Dad’s dreams, who is surviving without much of his income since parting.

The rub is that after an irritable start; a ghost barely exists and we are not even treated to the potentially exotic cottage atmosphere. A ghost appears near a window once. Meg at least hoped for time with her Dad at the beach. He did not tell her he is boarding in town and was an ass regarding her justifiable astonishment. The household’s son, meanwhile, was angry about his late Dad being labelled a thief.

This story was in coconut, two star territory, until unexpectedly nice family dynamics coalesced. I object that the major part of Betty’s story is not how to craft anything entitled “A Ghost In The Window”. However, Meg had predictive dreams that offer some metaphysical pizzazz. I decided this story could have three stars.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a followup to The Secret Window, though it is not necessary to read that one first. The supernatural elements are very mild and not creepy at all. It’s mostly a family drama with a 14-year-old main character.

Language: Clean
Sexual Content: None
Violence/Gore: None
Harm to Animals: None
Harm to Children: None
Other (Triggers): Ghost appears in dreams. Family is ostracized because father, now deceased, is believed to have robbed a bank.

[Ishi Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved all the characters! This book was less about ghosts and more about character relationships. Not a huge fan of the plot, but it was a good book nonetheless :)

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meg spends several weeks with her divorced father in a small Michigan town where she continues to have the mysterious dreams that have troubled her for years. Neither parent has shown any interest in her dreams but now Meg begins to dream about a ghost. Can she channel this dream so as to solve a local mystery?

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meggie was a psychic, before it was cool to be. A really good read.

[✧ hayley (the sugar bowl) ✧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

average. mediocre. meh.
⬆️ words that describe asparagus, Twilight, the color orange, and this book

but yeah this book was fine but just nothing too memorable and I already forgot most of the plot. although apparently someone said this was a sequel?? didn’t know that and maybe that’s why I didn’t love it ✨✨

[BRANDON · Rating 4 out of 5]

BRW leans heavily into family dynamics in her writing, in ways that are actually more interesting than the supernatural element. While Mary Downing Hahn is a fan of tempestuous younger siblings, Wright likes moody older stepbrothers. Speaking of which, Caleb's narrative and journey probably would have made for a better story in the end, but I also would have been hesitant to tackle that narrative.

[Pamela Israel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[grier! · Rating 2 out of 5]

eh

[Glenn Hammer · Rating 2 out of 5]

No much happens

[Shanu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok read. Not as expected from one of my childhood fav author

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike many of the books by Betty Ren Wright, this one didn't have the overt ghost haunting a child or children. The paranormal is found in the unique ability of the main character to dream truth. While not as spooky as I had expected, I did like this book which was much deeper than the others in the issues that both Caleb and Meg face regarding complicated relationships with their families, and their fathers in particular.

I rather liked this story that didn't have the expected happy ending, but instead a much more realistic one. The story left me thoughtful at the end, which is an interesting takeaway from an author that I've previously associated with pleasant and spooky ghost stories.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meg goes to visit her dad in a small town in northern Michigan. He has been divorced from Meg’s mother for a while and is living in a boarding house while he works on his writing career. Meg has to come to terms with him wanting to marry again. Also, the deceased husband of the owner of the boarding house is showing up in Meg’s dreams and also as a ghost. What is he trying to tell them?
This book is very similar to the other book I recently read by the same author. They both involve moving to a small northern Michigan town, making new friends, defining family relationships, and a ghost. Honestly, the other book was much better than this one.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a girl named Meg that has mysterious, and spooky nightmares. They often happen to come true. One day, she a man in her nightmare who had died by a car crash while stealing $500,000 from the bank. He lost his daughter and wants Meg to find her. Meg is a very shy girl and she doesn't want to have bad nightmares. Compared to Janie, which is a girl in "Born Blue" that I read, Meg is a very shy girl that doesn't really want to interact with others. But Janie is a really brave girl who always wants to interact with others, to find her brother.

[Jonathan Contreras · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a thriller. But this book was to easy for me. I finished this book in a day. Anyways, this book was okay. I wouldn't recommend this book to people. As I can say, it has a plot, which was also alright. But it barely had any spark in the book. There were no interesting part to the book. No excited moment. No OMG scene at all. It was plain boring. The characters and the dialogue were boring. So I wouldn't recommend this book to people who would want to free read this book.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gets just 4 stars, because their were a few parts that kinda dragged on. I did like Meg just as well, and I'm glad that she did end up helping everyone out in the end.
Another thing I liked about this book was that we got to see a bit more of Meg's father. He's not the evil person that Meg thought he was in the first book, and I'm thinking that the two of them probably had a much stronger relationship after everything was said and done.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ha, welcome back to the 90's. I read this one to my girls. Aly was very concerned that it would be a scary ghost story, but she's 10 and explaining to her that most of it would be metaphorical only sunk in so deep. It was a decent read, but pretty slow to start.

[Partridge Public]

Wright, Betty Ren PB

[Moon]

Dude I read this thing so long ago I don't remember what it's about.

[Autumn Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really good but the only thing i didnt get was why it was called a ghost in the window its not that scary at all.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children's book. I like ghost stories for any age.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the "real" dreams that Meg had and seeing how each one came true. Wright writes fun books for teens.

[Alexa Larzeia · Rating 5 out of 5]

so far it's a great book!!!!!!!!!!

[Taylor]

i didnt really like this book i thought it was boring!!

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read when I was younger

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Samantha Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book a great squeal

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very similar to The Secret Window! I wonder if this was a rewrite of that book or something.