Review: May B. - Caroline Starr Rose

Where I got it: Library

Rating: 3.5 stars  

Cover Rating: 4 stars (It is a very interesting style. I quite like it. It does look like a middle grade read.)
Genre: Middle Grade

Publication Date: January 10, 2012

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade

Page Count: 228 p.

Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

May's father decides that May needs to help the family out. The harvest was great this year, and they need some extra money. He takes her fifteen miles west out in the prairie to help a new couple settle into prairie life. Unfortunately the wife is less than willing to accept the quite loneliness of the great west. Soon the wife, Mrs. Oblinger, takes off to head back home. Mr. Oblinger, upon finding out races into town to try and stop her. May is left alone to get supper ready. Night comes and goes, and then another, and then another and May thinks they might not ever come back. A month or so passes and May is still completely alone. She has no way of telling her family what has happened and she has no way of getting home. Then the blizzard comes and May isn't prepared. She's trapped inside the home with no escape, and no one coming to get her for a while yet.

This was a nice story about a lot of things. May has dyslexia and struggles greatly with it, since she is very into her schooling. She has a cruel teacher who doesn't help her at all. Then, May is left to fend for herself and try to survive the harsh winter. I can't imagine how lonely and crazy I would go being trapped in a tiny house, with barely enough food and clothing to survive. May handled things fairly well though. Fans of Hatchet may enjoy this one. A good survival story with an interesting character. It is great for younger readers, a bit a fear but no violence. I was also thrilled to find this novel is written in verse. It's such a great format to convey intense emotional duress. This was a great debut and I'll be very interested to see more by Caroline Starr Rose.

First Line:
"I won't go."

Favorite Line:
"There are tracks
on the edge of the moonlit garden."