May B. by Caroline Starr Rose

 I’ve known it since last night:
It’s been too long to expect them to return.
Something’s happened.

May is helping out on a neighbor’s Kansas prairie homestead—just until Christmas, says Pa. She wants to contribute, but it’s hard to be separated from her family by 15 long, unfamiliar miles. Then the unthinkable happens: May is abandoned. Trapped in a tiny snow-covered sod house, isolated from family and neighbors, May must prepare for the oncoming winter. While fighting to survive, May’s memories of her struggles with reading at school come back to haunt her. But she’s determined to find her way home again.

Caroline Starr Rose’s fast-paced novel, written in beautiful and riveting verse, gives readers a strong new heroine to love.

"May B" is a fantastic historical fiction book for adolescents. It is written in verse and tells the tale of a 12-year-old girl who finds herself alone on the Kansas prairie in a sod home. May is sent to work for a young married couple. When the wife runs off, the husband chases after her. Neither of them return and May is left alone and trying to survive. For such a simple story, it has enough suspense and flashbacks to keep the plot interesting. There are also plenty of new vocabulary words that students can look up and learn. A definite must-read!