The
summer she's twelve -- the same year that Cabbage Patch dolls are
popular, that Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space, that
El Niño affects weather patterns worldwide and causes disasters on
almost every continent of the planet Earth -- Margaret Rose Kane must
confront a catastrophe brewing in her own backyard.
Freshly rescued
from a miserable experience at Camp Talequa, where she was housed with
seven cruel cabin mates, Margaret is looking forward to spending the
rest of her summer with her beloved great-uncles, Morris and Alexander.
Little does she know, the Uncles themselves are in need of a rescue.
For the last forty-five years, the Uncles have been building three
giant towers in their backyard from scrap metal and shards of glass and
porcelain. But now, bowing to pressures from some powerful home owners,
the towers have been declared a blight on the neighborhood. Even worse,
the city council has voted to have them destroyed.
Margaret Rose is
outraged. She knows the towers for what they truly are: irreplaceable
works of art. To Margaret, the towers sing. They sing of the joy of
making something big and beautiful out of bits and pieces; of integrity;
but perhaps most important of all, they sing of history. And Margaret
Rose is determined to make sure they always will.
This companion story to the acclaimed Silent to the Bone
is a rousing tale of art, history, and the fierce preservation of
individuality, as only the incomparable E. L. Konigsburg could write it.