CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS: MAY B. BY CAROLINE STARR ROSE + GIVEAWAY

 

age range: middle grade
setting: 1870s Kansas frontier
May B. study guide
May B. book talk
May B. book trailer

School Library Journal review:

Told in spare, vivid verse, May’s story works on many levels; as a survival story, a coming-of-age tale, and a worthwhile next read for “Little House on the Prairie” fans.

Publisher's Weekly starred review:

Writing with compassion and a wealth of evocative details, Rose offers a memorable heroine and a testament to the will to survive. 

Hornbook review:

The verse novel form is particularly well suited to this spare survival story set on the homesteaded Kansas prairie. Rose uses a close-up lens and a fine sense of rhythm to draw us into her stark world, Little House on the Prairie without the coziness. 

Kirkus starred review:

As unforgiving as the western Kansas prairies, this extraordinary verse novel—Rose’s debut—paints a gritty picture of late-19th-century frontier life from the perspective of a 12-year-old dyslexic girl named Mavis Elizabeth Betterly… May B. for short.

Please tell us about your book.

Mavis Elizabeth Betterly, or May B. as she is known, is helping out on a neighbor's Kansas prairie homestead, “Just until Christmas,” says her Pa. Twelve-year-old May wants to contribute, but it's hard to be separated from her family by fifteen long, unfamiliar miles.

Then the unthinkable happens: May is abandoned to the oncoming winter, trapped all alone in a tiny snow-covered sod house without any way to let her family know and no neighbors to turn to. In her solitude, she wavers between relishing her freedom and succumbing to utter despair, while trying to survive in the harshest conditions. Her physical struggle to first withstand and then to escape her prison is matched by tormenting memories of her failures at school. Only a very strong girl will be able to stand up to both and emerge alive and well. 

In this debut novel written in gripping verse, Caroline Starr Rose has given readers a new heroine to root for, one who never, ever gives up.

What inspired you to write this story?

Because of my childhood love for the Little House on the Prairie series, I wanted to create my own strong pioneer girl. I was also curious how someone might write about solitude and challenged myself to experiment with a storyline that would confine one character to a limited space (believe me, there were many times I didn’t feel up to this challenge!). I’d also fallen hard for Gary Paulsen’s HATCHET and wanted to create a survival story told from a girl’s perspective.

May’s name, Mavis Elizabeth Betterly, came to me before I did any character development. I liked the way I could shorten Mavis Betterly to May B. and loved the way her name hinted at the wishy-washy word “maybe” (which is a word like mediocre or okay; it doesn’t carry a lot of conviction), but also contained the strong word “better”. Though I wasn’t quite sure of the specifics, I determined there had to be something in May’s life that made her feel mediocre, something she longed to do better and something that spoke not only to her lack of ability but also her sense of worth.

As a teacher, I’d always wondered how children with learning disabilities had fared at a time before their challenges were understood, especially in the days when recitation and reading aloud were the major means of instruction. Dyslexia became a perfect obstacle for a child striving to do better and mirrored nicely May B.’s theme of isolation.

Could you share with readers how you conducted your research or share a few interesting tidbits you learned while researching? 

My first attempt at writing had been historical fiction, and I learned from that disastrous manuscript that regardless of the history, the story had to belong to the character; I couldn’t beat historical facts into my readers’ heads. I went into May B. trusting that if I kept my protagonist’s perspective and understanding of her world, enough history would organically seep in.

One special challenge was locating where May’s sod house stood. There’s a reference in the story to THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, so the book had to take place in 1876 or later. I wanted her in a part of western Kansas that wasn’t very developed and was semi-close to a railroad. It was also necessary to have wolves around. The first place I located May was outside of Dodge City, where she would have been smack dab in the middle of the Chisolm Cattle Trail -- not exactly the solitude I was looking for (I also wasn’t interested in telling the sort of rowdy cowboy story that Dodge City brings to mind). The story couldn’t take place much beyond 1880 because in order to have wolves, buffalo still needed to be prevalent; by 1880 these animals were largely wiped out. Gove County, Kansas became a good location: the railroad (and therefore surrounding communities) was still relatively new but old enough to have been there before 1880; the short-grass country of western Kansas supported sod houses; and wolves, while not spotted everyday, would have still roamed in packs at this time.

What are some special challenges associated with writing a verse novel?

May B. didn’t start as a novel in verse. I poked around with some scenes in prose but quickly found the writing wasn’t right. I wasn’t close enough to the character. I wasn’t telling the story as honestly as I could. Continuing with my research, I picked up Elizabeth Hamsten’s Read This Only to Yourself: The Private Writings of Midwestern Women, 1880-1910. Reading these women’s first-hand accounts was like finding a magic formula: their stark, terse, matter-of-fact way of sharing their lives showed me May’s voice. I began writing again, this time in verse, and the story fell into place.

What topics does your book touch upon that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?

• the frontier era
• pioneers
• Kansas history
• one-room schoolhouses
• learning disabilities
• blizzards
• survival / isolation
• shame / self-worth

Giveaway
In celebration of May's recent paperback release, I'm giving away one signed copy. To enter, please email Caroline your mailing address with "May B." in the subject line. The winner will be announced in next month's Classroom Connections.

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS: MAY B. BY CAROLINE STARR ROSE + GIVEAWAY

 

age range: middle grade
setting: 1870s Kansas frontier
May B. study guide
May B. book talk
May B. book trailer
 

School Library Journal review:

Told in spare, vivid verse, May’s story works on many levels; as a survival story, a coming-of-age tale, and a worthwhile next read for “Little House on the Prairie” fans.

Publisher's Weekly starred review:

Writing with compassion and a wealth of evocative details, Rose offers a memorable heroine and a testament to the will to survive. 

Hornbook review:

The verse novel form is particularly well suited to this spare survival story set on the homesteaded Kansas prairie. Rose uses a close-up lens and a fine sense of rhythm to draw us into her stark world, Little House on the Prairie without the coziness. 

Kirkus starred review:

As unforgiving as the western Kansas prairies, this extraordinary verse novel—Rose’s debut—paints a gritty picture of late-19th-century frontier life from the perspective of a 12-year-old dyslexic girl named Mavis Elizabeth Betterly… May B. for short.

Please tell us about your book.

Mavis Elizabeth Betterly, or May B. as she is known, is helping out on a neighbor's Kansas prairie homestead, “Just until Christmas,” says her Pa. Twelve-year-old May wants to contribute, but it's hard to be separated from her family by fifteen long, unfamiliar miles.

Then the unthinkable happens: May is abandoned to the oncoming winter, trapped all alone in a tiny snow-covered sod house without any way to let her family know and no neighbors to turn to. In her solitude, she wavers between relishing her freedom and succumbing to utter despair, while trying to survive in the harshest conditions. Her physical struggle to first withstand and then to escape her prison is matched by tormenting memories of her failures at school. Only a very strong girl will be able to stand up to both and emerge alive and well. 

In this debut novel written in gripping verse, Caroline Starr Rose has given readers a new heroine to root for, one who never, ever gives up.

What inspired you to write this story?

Because of my childhood love for the Little House on the Prairie series, I wanted to create my own strong pioneer girl. I was also curious how someone might write about solitude and challenged myself to experiment with a storyline that would confine one character to a limited space (believe me, there were many times I didn’t feel up to this challenge!). I’d also fallen hard for Gary Paulsen’s HATCHET and wanted to create a survival story told from a girl’s perspective.

May’s name, Mavis Elizabeth Betterly, came to me before I did any character development. I liked the way I could shorten Mavis Betterly to May B. and loved the way her name hinted at the wishy-washy word “maybe” (which is a word like mediocre or okay; it doesn’t carry a lot of conviction), but also contained the strong word “better”. Though I wasn’t quite sure of the specifics, I determined there had to be something in May’s life that made her feel mediocre, something she longed to do better and something that spoke not only to her lack of ability but also her sense of worth.

As a teacher, I’d always wondered how children with learning disabilities had fared at a time before their challenges were understood, especially in the days when recitation and reading aloud were the major means of instruction. Dyslexia became a perfect obstacle for a child striving to do better and mirrored nicely May B.’s theme of isolation.

Could you share with readers how you conducted your research or share a few interesting tidbits you learned while researching? 

My first attempt at writing had been historical fiction, and I learned from that disastrous manuscript that regardless of the history, the story had to belong to the character; I couldn’t beat historical facts into my readers’ heads. I went into May B. trusting that if I kept my protagonist’s perspective and understanding of her world, enough history would organically seep in.

One special challenge was locating where May’s sod house stood. There’s a reference in the story to THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, so the book had to take place in 1876 or later. I wanted her in a part of western Kansas that wasn’t very developed and was semi-close to a railroad. It was also necessary to have wolves around. The first place I located May was outside of Dodge City, where she would have been smack dab in the middle of the Chisolm Cattle Trail -- not exactly the solitude I was looking for (I also wasn’t interested in telling the sort of rowdy cowboy story that Dodge City brings to mind). The story couldn’t take place much beyond 1880 because in order to have wolves, buffalo still needed to be prevalent; by 1880 these animals were largely wiped out. Gove County, Kansas became a good location: the railroad (and therefore surrounding communities) was still relatively new but old enough to have been there before 1880; the short-grass country of western Kansas supported sod houses; and wolves, while not spotted everyday, would have still roamed in packs at this time.

What are some special challenges associated with writing a verse novel?

May B. didn’t start as a novel in verse. I poked around with some scenes in prose but quickly found the writing wasn’t right. I wasn’t close enough to the character. I wasn’t telling the story as honestly as I could. Continuing with my research, I picked up Elizabeth Hamsten’s Read This Only to Yourself: The Private Writings of Midwestern Women, 1880-1910. Reading these women’s first-hand accounts was like finding a magic formula: their stark, terse, matter-of-fact way of sharing their lives showed me May’s voice. I began writing again, this time in verse, and the story fell into place.

What topics does your book touch upon that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?

• the frontier era
• pioneers
• Kansas history
• one-room schoolhouses
• learning disabilities
• blizzards
• survival / isolation
• shame / self-worth

Giveaway
In celebration of May's recent paperback release, I'm giving away one signed copy. To enter, please email Caroline your mailing address with "May B." in the subject line. The winner will be announced in next month's Classroom Connections.

Eight Authors. Five New Titles. Two Weeks. One Fierce Tour.

...and one great giveaway.

Young Adult authors Gennifer Albin, Leigh Bardugo, Ann Aguirre, and Jessica Brody came through Albuquerque, NM at the end of October for stop two on their eight-city Fierce Reads tour. The Spellbinders had the opportunity to talk with the authors beforehand and moderated their discussion.

What's your weirdest writing habit? 

Gennifer Albin: I often but not always burn incense.

Jessica Brody: I never drink coffee unless I’m writing. It’s “productive juice.” I try to eat the same thing, tricking my brain into knowing it’s writing time. I listen to the same white noise track with a brain entrainment work track underneath. And I put on Mac Freedom. 

Leigh Bardugo: I use Mac Freedom, too. I eat the same thing every morning. Pot roast. When I’m on deadline, it’s 15 minutes for each meal, the rest of the time at my desk. If writing with friends, we take each others’ phones so we stay offline.

Ann Aguirre: I start at the same time every day and treat writing like a day job. I make sure my words are done before turning on the Internet and turn it off when I feel distractible. I’m generally done with my writing by lunch. Then I’ll do social media stuff.

What is cool about writing a series?

Jessica Brody: I like writing trilogies because you have more opportunity to create a bigger character arc. By the time a stand alone comes out and you are marketing it, you have moved on to other books.

Leigh Bardugo: The most intense book for me was book two because I was working on deadline. The biggest challenge was book three because it was about closing doors [rather than opening them]. 

Gennifer Albin: I wrote the first book of the Crewel series on a library computer during NaNoWriMo and now sit on the advisory board. The Crewel world trilogy starts with a secret. Book two has more secrets, more violence, and more kissing. 

Ann Aguirre: I prefer writing series to writing stand alone books. Even though I’ve written series of 5-6 books, I prefer trilogies. I have a trilogy brain. I admire writers who write 20 books on the  same character. I would have killed all the characters by now.

I noticed three of the four of you use prologues in your book.

Gennifer Albin: A good prologue is awesome, but it should serve a purpose. I write mine first. They always take place right before the story starts. They’re a bridge from the previous story to the new one. I firmly believe it’s the best page in my first novel. Hopefully it encapsulates what I’m trying to do in the whole book.

Leigh Bardugo: I knew when querying some agents were very anti-prologue, so I sent things from chapter one. All three of my books are framed with a before and after, and they are both written last. I wanted to write in first person, but wanted the sure and steady third-person guiding hand that is typical of fantasy. So the prologue has the traditional fantasy feel.

Jessica Brody: I've never heard till recently that prologues weren’t popular. A good prologue hooks you in fast. Each of my prologues will challenge my character with a different element (science vs. nature is a major part of the series). I’m inspired by Leigh’s pattern to her prologues. My second book’s prologue is a flash forward. I think prologues are great if you can find a purpose. They can’t be info dumps. Mine are called chapter zero.

How do you juggle writing and touring?

Ann Aguirre: I killed myself prior to tour to get everything turned in early. Everyday for two months was a 14 hour day. I wanted to focus on the tour and a little social media. And that’s it.

Jessica Brody: I enjoy the tour bubble. I don’t hear news. There’s not a lot of connection with family. You can set things aside for a while and choose not to think about it right now. You have to be present on tour. Give it your all. You can’t be in your head thinking about what you’re supposed to be doing [in the rest of your life]. I love being on tour. It’s easy to forget readers exist when you’re in your office, but on tour you remember why you write.

Leigh Bardugo: I’m trying to learn to be more balanced. There are phases when I’m intensely in the book, then I have a few weeks off, and then tour. Very compartmentalized. Yes, it’s challenging, but this is what I’ve wanted my whole life. I’m very happy.

Gennifer Albin: This is my third tour, and it’s the first time I’ve never had something to turn in. I have my own deadlines, things I’ve promised to readers but it’s not an editor, marketing, or PR deadline. It’s been awesome. I always think, I’ll get writing done on tour, but then I don’t.


Finally, what makes something a Fierce Read?

Jessica Brody: Something that makes you think and challenge the world around you. It brings reality to a new level, takes normal circumstances and takes them to the extreme.

Ann Aguirre: A Fierce Read has an empowered heroine. I’m tired of books with passive girls who wait for others to solve their problems, wait for the boy, wait for their families to treat them better. I want to see a character standing proudly at the helm of her own life and want readers to see what’s possible if you try. In the last 2-3 years there has been a shift in the prevailing winds. There are a lot more empowered heroines. 

Leigh Bardugo: There are lots of different ways to be empowered. For a time there was codified language used for a strong heroine. Now we can have heroines strong because they are clever or physically adept. There is so much range to build unique variety of characters.

Four lucky readers will be able to win books from the Fierce Reads Tour. Simply email Caroline directly with the heading Fierce Reads or leave a comment at the Spellbinders blog. Winners will be announced in next month's feature article.

Kimberley's Book Buzz: An Interview with Kersten Hamilton of THE GOBLIN WARS + Three-Book Giveaway!

What started your interest/research/love affair with Celtic Mythology?

As a child, I needed stories as much as I needed food or water, and the Celtic stories resonated with and partially formed my worldview. Celtic music pounds in my blood; I feel Celtic stories in my bones. It is so powerful it almost makes me a believer in racial memory.

How much research did you need to do? Any fun facts or interesting alleys the research led you to? 

The trilogy needed two detailed physical landscapes: Chicago and Mag Mell. I traveled to the National Zoo in Washington DC and several arboretums to find the inspiration for the plants, trees and strange creatures of Mag Mell. I fell in love with Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago one chill, drizzling day when my husband and I wandered through it. The cemetery and neighborhood around it became the Chicago setting.

It also needed an emotional landscape. I used the Celtic myths and legends I love so well to form the world of GOBLIN WARS. I took that created world and rooted it in actual history to create the worldviews of my characters. 

I ran down lots of research alleys as I was writing, and they sometimes changed characters or action. 

Discovering that that Edgar Allen Poe was Irish, or that Jack the Ripper’s last victim was an Irish girl named Mary, whose father was a blacksmith back in Ireland, sent the plot spinning off in a new direction.

What were the challenges in writing this sprawling, epic trilogy? 

The greatest challenge was dragging myself back into the real world at the end of each day. It didn’t feel sprawling while I was writing it—I suspect that is because I was in the moment with my characters taking one step at a time. It was exciting to wake up each morning and find out what happened next. Looking back at it, however, I think great googly-moogly! How did I keep all of that straight?  

What are some ways teachers and librarians can use these books in the classroom? Projects? 

T.S. Eliot said, “The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an objective correlative, in other words a set of objects, a chain of events, which shall be the formula of that particular emotion.”

THE GOBLIN WARS books evoke powerful emotion. I worked hard to find the chain of events that would leave my readers with exactly the emotional takeaway I wanted them to have in each and every scene.

After I explain this, I have students choose a scene from the books that makes them feel strong emotion—be it anger, disgust, fear, happiness,sadness or surprise— and explain why it made them feel that way. In other words, they explore the chain of events that created the emotion.

Surprise, for instance, happens when you have certain expectations—but things take a very different turn.

I ask the students to describe times when they were surprised in real life. What was the chain of events? What did they expect to happen? What really happened? What was something in THE GOBLIN WARS books that surprised them? What did they expect to happen instead? Why?

After we have discussed the ‘formulas’ for creating other emotions, I have students choose an emotion they would like another person to feel, and write a story—a chain of events— that creates that emotion in their reader. 

Why do you think it's important for kids/students to learn about other cultures and lands and people? Can they gain an appreciation and empathy and understanding without traveling there? 

Story is better than travel. You can travel to another land, experience it as alien and exotic, and never connect deeply with someone of that culture. But you cannot be immersed in someone’s story and not connect with them. Story cuts through differences and lays open hearts. It is impossible to hate someone if you know their story.

Quite simply, is the best way for students to not just to learn about but to learn to care deeply about people very different from themselves.

Enter to win an autographed set of Kersten Hamilton's THE GOBLIN WARS by leaving a comment on the Spellbinders Blog or emailing me. The winner will be randomly selected and announced November 18.

A SPELLBINDER book launch and giveaway!

April 29, 2013

Our very own Spellbinder Book Launch - just in time for Spring and Summer Reading!   SPELLBINDER author, Kimberley Griffiths Little's new book, WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES CAME, is out from Scholastic this month! Just in time for planting your very own summer butterfly gardens. Everybody thinks Tara Doucet has the perfect life. But Tara's life is anything but perfect: Her dear Grammy Claire has just passed away, her mom is depressed and distant, and she and her sister, Riley, can't agree on anything. But when mysterious and dazzling butterflies begin to follow her around after Grammy Claire's funeral, Tara knows in her heart that her grandmother has left her one final mystery to solve. Tara finds a stack of keys and detailed letters from Grammy Claire. Note by note, Tara learns unexpected truths about her grandmother's life. As the letters grow more ominous and the clues harder to decipher, Tara realizes that the secrets she must uncover could lead to grave danger. And when Tara and Riley are swept away to the beautiful islands of Chuuk to hear their grandmother's will, Tara discovers the most shocking truth of all, one that will change her life forever. Kimberley Griffiths Little weaves a magical, breathtaking mystery. Of course, there are gorgeous, magical purple butterflies in the story. In fact, there are many *unusual* species Tara's Grammy Claire is researching in her secret laboratory. . . The book takes place in the swamps and bayous of Louisiana. And on an island in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Tara must solve a series of clues inside a stack of mysterious letters with keys . . . and save her Grammy Claire's butterflies even as she finds herself and her sister, Riley, in grave danger. The stunning book trailer for WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES CAME will be in a post later this week. Final music edits were delayed due to unforeseen events so stay tuned for a marvelous book trailer. But here is the gorgeous cake from the launch party at Alamosa Bookstore earlier this month. Please join Kimberley and all the SPELLBINDERS in celebrating! Kimberley will be doing another presentation & reading at: Bookworks Bookstore in Albuquerque, New Mexico Saturday, June 22, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. 4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW  Albuquerque, NM 87107 505-344-8139 (And there will be cake!) Every attendee will be able to make a butterfly necklace like these: ******* Your SPELLBINDERS are giving away an autographed copy of WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES CAME to one lucky winner!! To Enter, please leave a comment at our blog - and please officially follow our blog right here ---> SPELLBINDERS BLOG The Winner will be Announced on May 13 - which will be our last post before the summer holidays begin and we go on summer hiatus. Join Our Mailing List!

What is it about Picture Books? Interview with Lori Mortenson and Book Giveaway

Ever since I was a little kid and excitedly checked out Where the Wild Things Are from the Gregory Gardens Elementary School library for a special birthday night reading, I’ve had a special place in my heart for picture books. Within a mere thirty-two pages, they manage to be funny, touching, clever, rambunctious, surprising, suspenseful, and memorable. When I was small, writing them was the farthest thing from my mind. I was short and shy, but whenever I opened them up, I was instantly drawn away into worlds far away from my ordinary home on Jennie Drive.

Later as a dance major in college, I spent most of my time sweating and spinning across the dance floor. But when there was a lull in the action, I’d find myself wandering around the children’s section of the campus book store. As I paged through the picture books, I idly wondered how someone became a part of such a magical endeavor, but it wasn’t really a question. Wherever authors lived, they lived far away from me and somehow it seemed as if only people who were born to the profession had the right to claim it.



Come See the Earth Turn
by Lori Mortenson



So when did I begin writing? I was a stay-at-home mother of three when I was reintroduced to children’s literature and secretly wondered—could I write a picture book? The idea was stunning, as if I’d challenged the laws of the universe. What did I have to say? What did I want to say for my children, and the child in me?

Many years later, that’s still the exciting reason I sit down at my keyboard and bring a story to life. When I sit down at the keyboard, the screen becomes a vacant world, that I fill as I please with characters, plots, and themes that take shape from my own thoughts, feelings, and motivations. Sometimes it’s hard to get started, but once I do and I know where I’m going, there’s nothing more exciting than wrestling with words on the page until they fall into their proper place.

Cindy Moo by Lori Mortenson

What is it about picture books? They’re a lot harder to write than they look. Picture books are so short, I’m sure many people pick them up and think they could knock one out in five minutes if they just had the time. The text is so short, how could it take any longer? Short as they are, however, the beauty of pictures books is how they pack so much into so little—character, drama, rhythm, rhyme, and meaningful undercurrents of theme. When they unfold across two eager laps in a chair, it’s an invitation to share a new world together through extraordinary pictures and words. Some of my favorites? King Bidgood’s Bath by Audrey and Don Wood; The Night Moon Fell Down, by Linda Smith; and The Recess Queen by Alexis O’Neil.

Clever.

Awesome.

Ringity Zingity.

What is it about picture books? I love them and I love writing them. There’s nothing I’d rather do (although dancing comes close.) And if children ever think that any of my picture books such as Cindy Moo, In the Trees, Honey Bees!, Come See the Earth Turn – The Story of Leon Foucault, and my upcoming book, Cowpoke Clyde and Dirty Dawg are clever, awesome, or ringity, zingity, then I’d be delighted. Maybe one day, it’ll be my book that’s tucked under the arm of an excited child on their way home for a special birthday night reading.

Lori Mortenson is an award-winning author of over three dozen books and more than 100 stories and articles that have appeared in Highlights, Ladybug, Jack and Jill, The Friend,


and many other publications. Like a detective on the trail for a clue, Lori follows her writing interests wherever they lead her-sometimes to a fascinating French scientist who proved the earth turned (Come See the Earth Turn: The Story of Léon Foucault, Random House 2010) and other times to the remarkable insider activities of a honey bee hive (In the Trees, Honey Bees! Dawn Publications, 2009, winner of multiple awards including the NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Book for Students K to 12.) Her titles with Picture Window Books, Capstone Press, Stone Arch Books, KidHaven Press, and Marshall Cavendish Benchmark Books include early readers, biographies, American history, mid-grade nonfiction, and first graphic novels.

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In the Trees, Honey Bees by Lori Mortensen

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