A girl fights to preserve her great-uncles’ legacy in the face of gentrification in this middle grade novel about finding your courage and the power of art from E.L. Konigsburg, the Newbery Medal–winning author of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
“I prefer not to” is Margaret Rose Kane’s refrain at summer camp. She didn’t want to come to Camp Talequa—with its uptight camp director and cruel cabinmates—and, while she may have been exiled here while her parents are in Peru, no one can make her participate. Thankfully, her sentence ends early when her beloved great-uncles rescue her and bring her to stay with them at their wonderful house at 19 Schuyler Place.
But Margaret Rose soon discovers that something is terribly wrong. The recently gentrified neighborhood’s new residents want to get rid of her uncles’ masterpiece, a labor of love that took forty-five years to complete: three magnificent towers constructed of scrap metal and shards of glass and porcelain. Margaret Rose is outraged and determined to strike a blow for art, for history, and for individuality. Luckily, her experience at camp gave her plenty of practice at civil disobedience…
