Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, proud of her country roots and the "Indian-ness in her blood," travels from Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric grandparents. Along the way, she tells them of the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a "potential lunatic," and whose mother disappeared.
Beneath Phoebe's stories Salamanca's own story and that of her mother, who left on April morning for Idaho, promising to return before the tulips bloomed. Sal's mother has not, however, returned, and the trip to Idaho takes on a growing urgency as Salamanca hopes to get to Idaho in time for her mother's birthday and bring her back, despite her father's warning that she is fishing in the air.
This richly layered novel is in turn funny, mysterious, and touching. Sharon Creech's original voice tells a story like no other, one that readers will not soon forget.
Hithcock believes that his audience is moved to the suspense that is affected by the characters, but they like to "play God" and have access to the information before them. Thus Hitchcock states that by showing the public the secrets that the characters do not know, the audience is motivated and anxious to know how these stories will come about and will work hard to disseminate and leaflet the stories for other people to know about them.
This sentence shows how Hitchcock's stories grow and flourish over time, being his purpose for writing, creating stories that are not outdated, as the exciting thing is to see their unfolding and not a possible surprise.
