Maybelle T. Earl is spending the summer with her eccentric show-business grandparents in a small Southern town where they have retired, moving into an ancient plantation house that her Grandfather inherited. She's already feeling like an outcast before she goes, and when she finds out that her cousin-by-adoption, Isaac, who is a trumpet prodigy, is also spending the summer there, jealousy begins to weigh heavy on her.
Race issues are a part of this book, but not the way you might assume from the setup. Maybelle, Isaac, the grandparents, the black family next door, the white girl Maybelle befriends on the bus to town - none of these characters show any signs of racism. Nor do any of the minor characters in town.
The race issues arise as Maybelle is determined to get into the secret permanently locked wing of the plantation house. Where she hopes to find evidence that her long ago ancestors helped slaves escape, but fears she may find evidence that they owned slaves.
Maybelle is jealous and a bit vindictive at times, but she is eventually redeemed (as is generally the case in a YA novel). The mystery of the locked wing aspects of the story were a bit far fetched, but it was still a fun book, with a variety of likable characters.

Side note: Evidently the graphic designers didn't like the angle that the artist drew the cover pictures. The drawing of Isaac has been mirrored. His trumpet is backwards. ( )