Whistler's Hollow

June 10, 2002
When 11-year-old Lillie Mae's mother dies, the girl's heartless aunt sells or keeps for herself all of the deceased woman's belongings and plunks the child on a train bound for the Kentucky farm owned by a great-uncle and aunt ("It had taken Aunt Helen three days even to remember about them and another four days to find out if they were still alive"). Alone in believing that her soldier father survived the war, Lillie Mae is convinced that he will one day return to find her. Her neighbor Paul tells her that the farm is haunted and also encourages the other kids at school to shun her. And she is awakened at night by a shuffling sound and a foul odor that she calls "a rotten food smell.... It smelled like death." In a simplistic about-face, Paul befriends Lillie Mae (he rescues her when she becomes lost in the woods during a nighttime thunder storm) and discloses the source of the nocturnal noise and stench (her uncle is making moonshine in the attic to pay his wife's medical expenses). Dadey's (Cherokee Sister) heavy-handed revelations and forced dialogue exacerbate the feeling of melodrama. Ages 9-up.

July 1, 2002
Gr 4-6 -Lillie Mae is an 11-year-old orphan in 1920. Her mother was killed in an accident and her father never came home from the Great War. However, having never seen the dreaded government-issued telegram announcing his death, the child won't accept that he is never coming home. She is sent to live with Great-Aunt Esther and Uncle Dallas, who provide a warm and loving home. However, the house is not without mystery. To help pay Esther's mounting medical bills, Dallas makes moonshine in the attic at night. On her first day of school, Lillie Mae meets Paul, a boy determined to alienate her. He is so devoted to the elderly couple that he assists Dallas in his illegal activities and is terrified that Lillie Mae will ruin their successful operation. Esther's health takes a turn for the worse, forcing the children to work together. At about the same time, Lillie Mae receives a package of her mother's belongings. Among the items are some letters and a telegram-not from the government but from her father to say he met someone else and is not coming back. While Lillie Mae feels betrayed, the truth helps her accept her new home. Whistler's Hollow is a quiet, lovely story about extended family, acceptance, and the power of secrets. Pair it with Janet Taylor Lisle's The Art of Keeping Cool (Atheneum, 2000) for another historical story with a similar theme. -Alison Grant, West Bloomfield Township Public Library, MI

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