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Jan 30, 2012

Sherrie added it

May B is an unlikely hero: a 12-year-old girl with a learning disability, fending for herself during a harsh prairie winter. In the wrong hands, the story could tend toward melodrama. Or it could just plain be boring. Fortunately, this story is neither.

May's story unfolds in verse. The style works well in this book, emphasizing the stark prairie and the simplicity of of May's every day existence. Author Caroline Starr Rose manages to weave in plenty of historical details, adding anothe More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Karen rated it:

Historical fiction in verse is hard to carry off and ultimately I compare everything to Out of the Dust which is most unfair on my part. I think Rose's job was even more difficult because so much of her book deals with one character alone - but what a strong character May is. May's fight for survival alone on the prairie is fascinating enough, but the flashbacks into her learning difficulties when she was at school make the character even more relatable and intriguing. I think Rose definitely wi More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Renae rated it:

I picked this up from NetGalley.com because I love verse novels and historical fiction. I've done graduate work with nontraditional text structures in childrens' and YA literature, so I gravitated right to it.

May B. is charming and a fast read. Rose's inspiration in the works of Laura Ingalls Wilder is clear. I couldn't help but feel that this was Wilder's The Long Winter with a more contemporary focus.

May B. is a twelve-year-old girl (although I had a hard time seeing More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Zemira rated it:

This is the first novel in verse I've read.

May B is a girl who's parents left her to work for Mr.and Mrs. Oblinger for a few months. She is abandoned when Mrs. Oblinger runs away from her husband who goes right after her. She is left alone on the farm for five months and her food supplies eventually run out.

In the beginning she questions everything. She is very insecure about herself because she has a learning disability and people think she is stupid and not worth the More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Maria added it

May B. by Caroline Starr Rose is an absolutely lovely novel written in verse. I had never read a novel in verse before, but this was done so well, reading it was pure pleasure. The story flowed effortlessly, the scenes described in detail such that I felt the cold of the blizzard.

May B. is a strong young girl to whom all young readers can relate. She is mad at her parents for sending her away to help another family, but she loves and misses them anyway. She has trouble reading, so More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Nafiza rated it:

I love stories in verse therefore I wasn't much surprised when I ended up enjoying May B. a whole lot more than I had expected to. There's this cleanliness about the poetry that makes it easy to read. The thing with writing a story in verse is that you have to be very careful about the details you put and the ones you leave out. Because of the structure, you cannot, as you would in prose form novels, describe things to the minute detail. I felt that May B. very successfully portrayed Mavis and t More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2011

Lisa added it

If I had to choose one word to summarise May B it would be brave. The character, her actions and even the chosen writing style: all brave and bold and perfect. I loved the lyrical rythm of the verse and how it contrasted so perfectly with May's own problems with reading. I loved how vividly the author managed to create the barren and harsh landscape with so few words. Barely anything was given to this description but I still got an excellent sense of life and it's hardships.

Without giv More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Heather rated it:

This book is so beautiful. It’s the kind of book I would have loved when I was a tween (is that the term now? I’m so old, lol)—it’s got an intensity and seriousness to it, but it’s still so accessible. I’ve never read a novel in verse before and wasn’t sure how I’d feel about it. I wondered if it would slow down my reading. Instead though, I think it made it swifter, while at the same time, some of the line breaks would add punch to thoughts, descriptions, or emotions.

This story is in More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 21, 2011

Kimberly rated it:

May B is the perfect mix of Laurie Halse Anderson's historical fiction, Ellen Hopkins' seamless and moving poetry and the world of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I instantly connected with the character of May, but I fell in love with the book when I realized that May was dyslexic. As a mom of a child with dyslexia, I have to say that Caroline Starr Rose got it right. This book, in conjunction with Rose's additional information available for teachers, should easily make this book a fixture on teacher' More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2012

Peep (Pop! Pop!) rated it:

What an interesting story! I have to say that I am not a fan of reading in verse. I freely admit that I do not get it? Is there a special way I should be reading them? I was a little ways from the beginning when I decided to put it aside for another book. After I was done with the other book, I came back to this one and I am sooo glad I did! I even feel bad that I put it hold for even a little bit. I couldn't even remember why I had a problem with reading in verse in the first place. Really, it' More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 03, 2012

Sarah-Greenbeanteenqueen rated it:

About the Book: May has been sent to a neighbor's homestead to help out. It's only for a few months and it's a way her family can earn some extra money. Plus, it's not like she's doing much in school anyway-she's having trouble reading, so why does she need school? The neighbor's new bride isn't liking life on the Kansas prairie and she needs help cooking and cleaning. But when a tragedy leaves May alone as winter approaches, May must rely on her wits to survive.

GreenBeanTeenQueen More...

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Jan 24, 2012

Liesl rated it:

A beautiful novel in verse that's reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books. May is sent to help another family living on the prairie, 15 miles from her own family. When she is suddenly abandoned and trapped for the winter in the small sod home, May struggles to survive on her own.

The only other verse novel I have read is Karen Hesse's OUT OF THE DUST, but both times I've been surprised at how much I've enjoyed the style. I always think the sparse language is going to p More...

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Jan 21, 2012

Michelle rated it:

I don’t recall ever reading a novel-in-verse and now I wonder why I haven’t. I tend to favor stark prose and this qualifies. I absolutely loved the writing style. Not to mention it perfectly suits the story of May B., a young girl abandoned on the prairie during a harsh winter. The writing in this is extraordinary and much is said in so few lines. May B. is a brave young girl yet she still acts like a young girl in exactly the way she should. Unlike so many young adult and/or middle grade books, More...

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Oct 26, 2011

Naomi rated it:

Recommended grades 5-8. Author Caroline Starr Rose cites her inspiration for her historical novel in verse, May B (Random House 2012) to a childhood of reading Laura Ingalls Wilder. Reading about Laura's schooldays made her wonder about Laura's contemporaries with learning disorders. How were they taught? What cultural assumptions were made about them? To satisfy this thought experiment, Rose created May B, a twelve year old girl with dyslexia who dreams of becoming a teacher, if she could More...

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Jan 29, 2012

Susan rated it:

Absolutely wonderful on so many levels. What began as a free-verse novels of a young girl "rented" to young homesteaders to help the bride adjust to life on the prairie quickly turned to much, much more. In paces the story was reminiscent of the prairie stories of Laura Ingals Wilder(the author later explained how she deary loved and greaty admired Wider's work). When the bride ran away, home to Ohio, and the husband followed her, May was left alone in the sod house on the prairie to f More...

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Dec 01, 2011

Sps rated it:

Review for work:

Oh boy, a verse historical fiction novel, always the most popular item in any library! Kidding aside, it’s hard for me to see this book going out too much, unless it’s for the reluctant reader who has to write a report on a historical fiction book over 200 pages long. Because the verse leaves so much white space, the text density here is more like a Frog and Toad book, yet it comes to a cool 225 pages in the ARC.

This book had too many themes swirling i More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 25, 2011

Deb rated it:

Put this next book on your reading radar! Not being released until January 2012, May B. by Caroline Starr Rose is an engaging historical novel in verse that will leave you wanting to reread your favorite Laura Ingalls Wilder book!

Mavis Elizabeth Betterly...May Betts...May B is sent to help out on a neighbor's homestead. She begrudgingly leaves her ma and pa and brother Hiram to go to Mr. Oblinger's soddy to be a companion for his new wife who is a novice to the hardships of Frontier More...

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Jan 29, 2012

Abby rated it:

May didn't want to go, but her family had no choice but to send her away to keep house for a new young couple on the prairie. They needed the money and it was one less mouth to feed. Why not, after all, when they know May has no chance of getting her teaching certificate since she can't learn to read no matter how hard she tries? But May is determined. She studies her reader every chance she gets. And when her employers the Oblingers disappear into the Kansas prairie one day, May does what she h More...

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Jan 19, 2012

Ellie rated it:

Read-alike to Out of the Dust? Definitely a read-alike to those kids who love both the Little House books and the I Survived series. More Little House than I Survived, though.

Young teen May B is sent to live with a desperately unhappy newly-married couple on the Kansas prairie (sometime in pioneering times) because her family needs the money. May B loves learning <spoiler>but has dyslexia, which makes reading almost impossible, especially in a time before learning disabiliti More...

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Feb 10, 2012

Peg rated it:

12-year-old Mavis Elizabeth Betterly, May B. for short, is the “dispensable one,” sent 15 miles away by her cash-stripped parents to tend house for Mr. Oblinger and his young bride. "Why not Hiram? I think, / but I already know: / boys are necessary." Fearful of being away from her family for the first time, of living in such close quarters with strangers, and of losing time at school where she struggles with reading, she has no choice but to go and is understandably bitter. Only “ti More...

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Jan 20, 2012

Amanda (Born Bookish) rated it:

This is a lovely debut novel told in free verse by Catherine Starr Rose and hopefully just the beginning of what is to come.

The story is about a young girl named May who is shipped off to a neighbor’s house to take care of the homestead and earn her family some extra money. After some unexpected events, May is left all alone in the house fighting to survive on her own.

We learn at the beginning about May’s dreams to become a schoolteacher, we also learn about the difficulties More...

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Dec 03, 2011

nicole rated it:

I'm always a bit skeptical of verse novels. You'd think that my appreciation for books by Sharon Creech would have me convinced by now, but I always pick them up with the same wary question in my mind: "Ooookay, is this actually any good or is this a gimmick?" I think a lot of us approach poetry with, if not fear, then a sense of drudgery. It is going to be too drippy? Will it be too dense? Lured by Christopher Silas Neal's beautiful cover illustration and type and interested to read a More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

In the middle grade historical novel in poetry May B. by Caroline Rose (to be published January 2012 by Swartz and Wade), young Mavis Betterley, called May, has been sent away from home for the first time, assigned to be a helper for one of her rural Kansas farm neighbors for six months. Despite her personal challenges to reading, May is heart-broken at leaving school, and she longs for Christmas to come soon so she can rejoin her family on their farm. Then the unthinkable happens: May is left a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 20, 2012

Julie rated it:

A complex story told in simple prose set in the Kansas prairie in the late 1800s. May B. is forced to help out at frontier homestead to earn money for her family and lessen their burden of feeding and clothing another child. However, she wants to stay ay home and finish school to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher like her beloved Miss Sanders. She can tell something is amiss when she arrives at the Oblinger's soddy house. Soon the young Mrs. Oblinger, depressed at the notion of prairie More...

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Feb 16, 2012

Holly rated it:

This is Little House on the Prairie meets Hatchet. Told in verse, May is sent away from her family to help at a neighbor's homestead 15 miles away. Mrs. Oblinger is ill-suited for the prairie and sod house. May observes the Oblingers' strained relationship until one day Mrs. Oblinger sets out on a supposed day trip, but May finds a note she's left behind that tells her husband she is actually leaving for home in Ohio. Mr. Oblinger sets out after her, leaving May B. alone. As May tries to su More...

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Dec 07, 2011

Gina rated it:

I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of MAY B. (Schwartz & Wade/Random House Children’s Books – 1/10/12) by Caroline Starr Rose. Mavis Elizabeth Betterly (May B. for short) lives on the Kansas prairie where there are not enough trees to provide wood to build a house, so chunks of sod is cut from the ground and piled up like bricks to make walls. After her family hires her out to help a young couple until Christmas, May B. finds herself stranded alone in their remote soddy with nothing but he More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Valerie rated it:

I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at this upcoming debut novel-in-verse. And it's simply beautiful. Think "Little House on the Prairie" meets "Hatchet" written in poetry. An inspiring and hopeful story that will stick with me for a while.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Amy rated it:

I won the ARC of MAY B. on Caroline Starr Rose's blog. This was an absolutely beautiful book. Simple. Gorgeous language. I read it in one night.

My nine-year-old daughter read it, too, and loved it!

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 30, 2012

Bee rated it:

Also posted on Dreamcatcher's Lair

Verse is the most beautiful form of writing EVER. Seriously. Prose can be made beautiful but anything that verse touches is instantly beautified. It's easy to go wrong with verse, but if you get it right, the result is nothing short of dazzling.

Caroline Starr Rose's May B. is one such beautiful novel. The verse is stylistic, yet simplistic and makes for a read that is oh-so-compelling, it begs to be completed quickly. And that's easy, be More...

7 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 28, 2011

Laura rated it:

I generally don't like verse novels, but I love homesteading stories. The starkness of the format fit the setting. Would work well as a contrast to Wilder's "The Long Winter".

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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