May B.

May B.
By Caroline Starr Rose (240 pages)
Published by Schwartz and Wade
Bookish rating: 3.75

My friend Lauren recommended May B. to me, even though she wasn't much of a fan. See, she knows I have a penchant for stories taking place in sod houses. No, really.

I liked it more than Lauren did. Written in verse, and aimed at a younger audience, I tested it on an actual younger audience. Reading the novel to Charlotte, it kept her attention . . .  for a bit. But I found myself adding extra words here and there, reading aloud more as prose to help connect the story for my young listener. Though I was pleased that we got through about 75 pages or so together, especially because it exposed her to a different rhythm of story and no pictures helped her along, eventually Charlotte moaned when I picked up the book and suggested reading a chapter or two. It didn't hold her attention.

It did, however, hold mine. I liked the verse aspect, but as Lauren (far more articulately) argued, prose might have better served the story. On one level, the verse felt gimmicky; on another, it reduces the story down to the survival mentality May must take on.

Oh, the premise? Right. Set in the 1870s on the Kansas prairie, May is sent by her parents to a young couple to help them. Her folks need the money. She fosters a believable amount of resentment for this, but this dies out and never adequately resurfaces. Eventually, circumstances leave her stranded and alone in the soddy, with winter approaching and no way to get home. A wolf sniffs at her door. A blizzard brews. This is good stuff.

Oh, and May has dyslexia. Naturally. Actually, snark aside, I kind of liked the watching the process of her struggling to read, and this was an area I thought the verse worked well. Granted, I'm watching my firstborn learn to read, so perhaps I'm over-identifying with the painstaking process. It's so damn hard!

Overall, I enjoyed May B. Is it perfect? No. Is it a worthwhile read? Yes, I think so.