Harriet the Spy, Eloise, and Ramona, make room for Margaret Rose Kane in your elite rank of strong, unforgettable girls of fiction. Unwilling to bend to the dictatorial stance of the camp director and defiant against the mean-spirited bullying of her fellow campers, Margaret makes an early exit from summer camp. She’s only too happy to spend the rest of the season living with her great-uncles. Alexander and Morris obviously adore and respect their niece, so their unusually guarded behavior makes it clear that they are hiding something significant from Margaret. Indeed, they are keeping a monumental secret, knowing that it will come as a serious blow. The unique clock towers the two men have built in their backyard have been declared unsafe by the city council and slated for destruction. Quirky works of art, these high towers layered with bottles, bits of glass, china fragments, and clock parts, painted in a rainbow of shades, are as beautiful and vital to Margaret as they are unconventional. Determined to save the towers, Margaret launches a campaign designed to raise community awareness of outsider art. Aided by a small group of collaborators, Margaret shines with her fierce individuality as she fights against conformist definitions of art and history. This remarkable multilayered novel mesmerizes with an exceptional combination of literary prowess and pure reading pleasure. (Ages 10–14)

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.