Ruby Lavender and Miss Eula are a pretty good team, for a couple of chicken thieves. What other granddaughter-grandmother duo could successfully drive the getaway car for chickens rescued from a journey to the slaughterhouse, paint a whole house shocking pink, and operate their own personal secret-letter post office? So, when Miss Eula leaves for Hawaii to visit her new grandbaby, Ruby is sure that she will have a lonely, empty, horrible summer in boring old Halleluia, Mississippi. What happens instead? She makes a new friend, saves the school play, writes plenty of letters to her favorite (and only) grandmother . . . and finally learns to stop blaming herself for her grandfather's death. Not too bad, for a nine-year-old. "This small comic novel makes good use of a lot of chickens."-- The New York Times Book Review [star]"A lively, humorous story. . . . Colorful and spirited."-- School Library Journal (starred review) DEBORAH WILES is the award-winning author of  Each Little Bird That Sings,  a National Book Award finalist;  Love, Ruby Lavender,  an ALA Notable Children's Book, a Children's Book Sense 76 Pick, an NCTE Notable Book for the Language Arts, and a New York Public Library Book for Reading and Sharing; Freedom Summer , a Coretta Scott King Honor Book; The Aurora County All-Stars, a New York Public Library Book for Reading and Sharing; and One Wide Sky. She lives in Georgia. www.deborahwiles.com