The well-loved author of the Bailey School Kids series turns her practiced hand to a sad and wonderful little story about a young Kentucky girl learning to live without her parents after WWI. The Great War has been over for a year, but Lillie Mae Worth still waits on her dad"s return. Then Mama dies in a factory accident, and the poor girl gets summarily shipped off by her brusque Aunt Helen to live with Lillie Mae"s great uncle Dallas and his wife Esther. The many mysteries of her new home (a farm nicknamed "Whistler"s Hollow") strain Lillie Mae to breaking more than once, between her insensitive new schoolmates ("They stared at me like I was a rat in a church pew") and her eccentric adoptive caretakers (Aunt Esther: "Dallas Worth! Have you lost your mind?... Lillie Mae"s going to think she"s landed in the home for crazy old people!" Uncle Dallas: "She has.") But fragile Lillie Mae eventually does find some bravery and grace amidst her life"s wreckage, thanks in large part to the fierce and funny Dallas and Esther. Other writers might have gone on twice as long and five times as vehemently here, but not Dadey: her careful dialogue and shrewd pacing make this straightforward period story both moving and memorable--short, but not too sweet. (Ages 9 to 12) --Paul Hughes