Caroline Starr Rose sets her realistic fiction novel at a White House, Kansa Prairie, around the 1800’s. This novel is written in 1st person point of view because the main character May B is telling the story. Caroline Starr writes May B in a confused, impatient tone. This book is mainly about May B, a girl who has to homestead a strangers house. Basically is 15 miles away and until Christmas because her family needs money. In between the time the married couple has arguments that makes one leave and the other look for her. This makes her very independent thinking about what she has to do to survive the time of the cold season. The cold season is how she must prepare to be on her own at Mr. and Mrs. Oblinger’s house. The middle is how she goes and after issues with the couple, they abandon her. The ending is about how she is running out of food and cold is using up her fuel. Only thing is that she decides to walk home in the snow, but she finds someone who will help her. The main conflict is at 12 she’s all one with no one there to have a watch on her. I didn’t like it because I can connect in a way with the situation.
Review: May B.
America S.
May B is actually Mavis Elizabeth Betterly. She’s a strong, overcoming girl but can feel very lonely and worthless because of her disability to learn. What makes her believable is how she describes her feelings during the time she’s sent off. Its Intriguing and gets me thinking. Its relatable in a way because I’ve dealt with that. May B is scared and brave. On page 3 it says, “Ma and Pa want me to leave and live with strangers. I won’t go.” This shows she scared because her going to someone’s house she doesn’t know and having to stay with them would get her worried. It also says on page 10,” Ma told you? Pa asks straight after grace. “Better pack tonight.” I nod, stare down at the chicken fixings.” This shows she’s brave because after trying to tell them she doesn’t want to go, she realized she must for her family to earn money. She learns to put family first. The big idea is to be prepared to be alone. The theme is the danger of isolation but the lesson, in general, is to be ready to do things yourself.
Other connections I can make to this is that she did this for her Ma and Pa. May B is not part of a series, the book doesn’t have a movie but the author Caroline Starr Rose has written 8 more books. The books are not the same genre. I would recommend this book to my friends. In 8th grade and are around 12 or 13 because they could also understand the situation. I would rate this book on a scale of 1-10 a 7. I would say 3.5 stars because it was interesting but didn’t make me want to keep reading, page after page.
Tiger Times 