Grade 5-7-- A long-forgotten cherrywood chest miraculously changes unhappiness to joy in this novel of a girl's adjustment to her family's move from Denver to rural Ohio. Prefaced by the history of the chest, which dates back to the Civil War, the real story begins with 13-year-old Meg's resolve not to like her new home. After meeting neighbor Talley Gradey, she's sure she won't like him either. Mim, Talley's great-grandmother, is 96 and full of local history. At first Meg is frightened of her, but is eventually won over. Meg comes across the keepsake chest and is fascinated by it, but tells no one of her discovery while researching its background. The conflict between big city and rural life is symbolized in land developer Jonathan Biggs's claim that the Gradeys don't own their property; conveniently, proof of their rights is part of the keepsake chest's secrets. The potential for a good story is here, but the execution is trite and predictable. Everybody's problems are solved. Precek's prose style has merit, but the one-dimensional characters are--except for Mim--uninteresting. While the cover dramatically depicts the chest's haunting quality, the girl in the picture is far too young to be Meg. --Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
At 13, Meg sees nothing good about her parents' decision to leave a fast-track law practice and suburban Denver for life in rural Ohio. She misses the mountains, her friends, and the shopping mall and hates everything about Lebanon--the heat and humidity, the landscape, the old houses, even the smell. The nearest neighbors are seventh-grader Talley and his ancient great-grandmother, Mim, who gives Meg the creeps. But when Meg finds the chest in the attic of her early 1800's farmhouse, she turns to Talley and Mim for help in unlocking its secrets. Their discoveries will prevent a greedy developer from destroying Mim's ancestral home; in the process, Meg realizes ``where she really was. Home.'' The setting here is especially well evoked, while Precek hooks readers with the probable importance of papers that fell from the chest, unnoticed by Meg. The cover art, however, inaccurately depicts both Meg and the chest. Still: an engrossing read for anyone who's ever harbored a treasure-chest fantasy or kept a delicious secret. (Fiction. 10-13) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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