Review: May B. by Caroline Starr Rose

Book: May B. by Caroline Starr Rose
Genre: MG Historical Fiction
Rating: *****
For: Review
From: Copy sent by publisher

Caroline and I have been following each other's blogs for a long time, maybe even from the beginning? I have no idea. So awhile back when she said she had a book coming out and would I read and review it, of course the answer was yes! That book finally came the other day (there was a little mix up and delay I think) and I pretty much instantly took it and read it in one sitting.

This is the story of May, a pioneer girl living in a sod hut with her family on the Kansas plains. They are struggling a bit and so her family has hired her out to another family, 15 miles away, to help them with chores. It's a newlywed couple and the wife appears to be one of those mail order brides (though she denies this) and knows absolutely nothing about life on the prairie.

So May, who is only 12 years old, goes very unwillingly to work for them. And then stuff happens that I'm just not going to tell you all about because it would be a SPOILER! But this stuff tests May in a very big way, and she finds out that she is much more than she thought she was. She is one tough cookie. She is smart and brave and resilient. She went into this thinking was nothing and nobody, but she came out with a whole new look about herself.

This story is told in verse form, and can I just say, it always surprises me how much I love this.The story is much more powerful, because less words are used, so everyone of them is very meaningful and strong. Am I making sense? Well, whatever it is, it always works for me. I love it.

May is an awesome strong character too. It was actually a hard story for me to read because, as you may or may not know, my youngest is this very same age. I freak if she goes out for a bit and doesn't text to report in now and then. I can't even imagine sending her on an adventure such as May went on, and then not checking in on her now and then. Fifteen miles? They could do that once or twice, in a five months time, right? It's hard to imagine a world where that literally wouldn't be possible. What a hard hard life.

Bottom line: I loved it.

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