Author: Caroline Starr Rose

Caroline Starr Rose writes historical fiction for young readers with spare language, resilient voices, and attention to place. Her experience teaching English and social studies informs her approach to literacy and the past. May B. is her debut novel in verse, following twelve year old Mavis Elizabeth Betterly after she is left alone in a Kansas sod house during a winter. Difficulty with reading complicates school for May but never defines her abilities. Memory, practical judgment, and determination carry her survival story. Schwartz and Wade first published the book in 2012, and Yearling issued the paperback. Rose chose verse after studying the concise language of nineteenth century Midwestern women. The form keeps the prairie immediate while giving May room to think through fear, separation, and the hope of reaching home.