Whistling Past the Graveyard

 By Indiana Author Susan Crandall

Summary: Whistling past the graveyard. That’s what Daddy called it when you did something to keep your mind off your most worstest fear. . . . 

In the summer of 1963, nine-year-old Starla Claudelle runs away from her strict grandmother’s Mississippi home. Starla’s destination is Nashville, where her mother went to become a famous singer, abandoning Starla when she was three. Walking a lonely country road, Starla accepts a ride from Eula, a black woman traveling alone with a white baby. Now, on the road trip that will change her life forever, Starla sees for the first time life as it really is—as she reaches for a dream of how it could one day be.

Readers’ Comments: The story is told through the eyes of Starla, a 10 year old girl. Starla has lived sheltered from the realities of the south in the 1960’s. Her father works on an off shore oil rig and Starla is left in the care of her grandmother. Starla runs away with the romantic notion of finding her mother and living happily ever after with her. She finds trouble easily and her lack of knowledge about the rules of the time cause even more problems for her and those who try to help her. Over all a touching story of race tension, forgiveness and acceptance.

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