Everyone tells Lillie Mae that her father died in World War I, but she doesn't believe it. After all, when soldiers die their families get a telegram saying so. Lillie Mae and her mother never got a telegram, so Lillie Mae knows that her father is coming back. It'll be any day now, because the war has been over for a year already.

While she waits, life goes on as usual. Then one day in September 1920, Lillie Mae comes home from school and learns that her mother was killed in an accident at the factory where she worked. Aunt Helen takes Lillie Mae home, sells everything she can that belonged to Lillie Mae's mother, and arranges to send Lillie Mae off alone on the train to relatives in a little town on the other side of Kentucky called Henderson. Before Lillie Mae leaves for the train, she takes a little glass bluebird that her father gave her mother. A bluebird sitting in your window is good luck, which may be why Aunt Helen kept it and set it in her window. But Lillie Mae wants something to hold in her hand and remember her mother by, so she sneaks it into her pocket.

Lillie Mae arrives in Henderson to live with her father's Uncle Dallas and Aunt Esther. Her father had lived with them, too, when he was young after his parents died. Lillie Mae likes them, but she knows that as soon as her father comes back to find her, she'll leave with him. In the meantime, she tries to help with chores and earn her keep. She looks forward to school, too --- until the first day. All the kids are unfriendly. The teacher won't give her any books, and the kids won't share theirs. Nobody will talk to her or let her play with them at recess. One boy, Paul, calls her names, pushes her around, and starts fights with her. He even throws rocks at her when she walks home from school. Lillie Mae doesn't understand why.

To make things worse, Paul and Uncle Dallas like each other. When Aunt Esther gets sick, Uncle Dallas even entrusts his violin case to Paul instead of to Lillie Mae. She can't understand it. Uncle Dallas is teaching her how to play the violin, but when Paul visits, he never hands it to him to play. In fact, Lillie Mae never sees Paul play the violin at all. So why would Uncle Dallas gives his violin case to Paul?

Then there are the strange sounds Lillie Mae hears at night, and the awful smells. Uncle Dallas gets angry with her once when she hears something falling in the house and goes to investigate. He tells her never to go into the attic. Paul says it's because ghosts live there. Is it really ghosts? And if it isn't, what's the secret in the attic?

Lillie Mae is a gutsy heroine whom you will like very much. You'll admire her courage as she adjusts to life in Henderson while waiting for her father to come take her away. And when Aunt Helen finally sends Lillie Mae the rest of her mother's things, Lillie Mae makes a surprising discovery, too. Will her life ever come right-side-up again?

   --- Reviewed by Tamara Penny