Books with title Tom's Midnight Garden. Philippa Pearce

Tom is furious. His brother, Peter, has measles, so now Tom is being shipped off to stay with Aunt Gwen and Uncle Alan in their boring old apartment. There'll be nothing to do there and no one to play with. Tom just counts the days till he can return home to Peter. Than on night the landlady's antique grandfather clock strikes thirteen times, leading tom to a wonderful. magical discovery and marking the beginning of a secret that's almost too amazing to be true. But it is true, and in the new world that Tom discovers is a special friend named Hatty and more that a summer's worth of adventure for both of them. Now Tom wishes he could stay with his relatives - and Hatty - forever....

When Tom Long's brother Peter gets measles, Tom is sent to stay with his Uncle Alan and Aunt Gwen. They live in an upstairs flat of a big house with no garden, only a tiny yard for parking. The elderly and reclusive landlady, Mrs Bartholomew, lives above them. Because Tom may be infectious, he is not allowed out to play, and he feels lonely. Without exercise he lies awake after midnight, restless, when he hears the communal grandfather clock strangely strike 13. He gets up to investigate and discovers that the back door now opens on a large sunlit garden. Every night the clock strikes 13 and Tom returns to the Victorian era grounds. There he meets another lonely child, a girl called Hatty, and they become inseparable playmates. Tom sees the family occasionally, but only Hatty (and as is revealed later in the book, the gardener) sees him and the others believe she plays alone....

A mesmerizing tale of a boy's journey across the boundaries of reality, this Carnegie Medal winner has the appeal of such works as Indian in the Cupboard and Behind the Attic Wall. "If I were asked to name a single masterpiece of English children's literature . . . it would be this outstandingly beautiful and absorbing book".--John Rowe Townsend, author of Written for Children. Tom was a cross and resentful boy when he was sent to stay with his uncle and aunt because his brother, Peter , had caught the measles. As soon as he joined his relatives in their small apartment, he knew he would be bored and lonely. He would miss Peter as well as the garden to explore, there was only a paved yard and a row of garbage cans outside the back door. When the time came for Tom to go home, however, he did everything he could to prolong his visit. For he had made a strange and wonderful discovery--a discovery that he could share with no one, except Peter. And Peter believed it all, and even, for one brief moment, came to share in Tom's fantastic midnight adventure.