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Title: Maggie Rose and Sass

Author: Eunice Boeve

Narrator: Jennifer Ristvedt

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-17-14

Publisher: Books In Motion

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Maggie Rose and Sass explores the differences between two races and the culture of the times. The novel is set in 1888 in a fictional town based on Nicodemus, Kansas, a town settled ten years earlier by ex-slaves from Kentucky. Life in Georgia with an ugly-tempered, racist grandmother has not prepared the orphaned Maggie Rose for Solomon Town whose citizens are almost all black. Sass has lived all her life in Solomon Town, the daughter of an ex-slave mother and a free-born, educated, mixed-race father. Raised in such totally different cultures, the two girls are bound to clash.

Members Reviews:

Great book about two girls of different races and their clash of ideas/cultures while they grow to appreciate the "other."

Eunice Boeve is one of my favorite writers, not just for young adults, but also for all ages. I was surprised by the way Eunice portrayed the two teenagers. Maggie Rose, the white girl raised by a cruel and racist grandmother and a silent colored servant woman. Sass is an outspoken and interested colored girl raised by a well-educated free father and an ex-slave mother. The expectation for the story might be that when these two girls meet, under strange circumstances for the white Maggie Rose-- in this book she is the minority--they would immediately see their likenesses and become instant friends. Not so in Boeve's more true to life fictional world with deeply real characterizations. It takes time and many missteps before these girls learn to respect, honor and like each other. As usual Boeve salts the book with historic facts and realities that the reader may or may not have known. And she does not paint the past with the brush of current ideas and PC language. Her book is about the actuality of the characters in their time and place. The realization of an all free colored town in Kansas of the 1880s is masterful.

Another thought provoking book for young adults from Eunice Boeve

Maggie Rose and Sass are both twelve years old and they both love reading books. But in 1888 they are from two different worlds. Maggie Rose was born in Georgia, and after she was orphaned a bitter and prejudiced grandmother raised her. Sass lives in Solomon Town, Kansas where her father publishes the local newspaper. Solomon town is a nearly all colored community settled by ex-slaves. After her grandmother dies Maggie Rose has no choice but to move to Solomon Town to live with her Uncle Caleb who owns the general store. With the prejudicial conditioning from her grandmother will Maggie Rose adjust to living in a colored community especially when her uncle and aunt live in a dugout while prosperous coloreds live in fine granite houses? Will she make friends with Sass and other colored girls? Will Sass overcome her notion that Maggie Rose is "An Uppity White Girl" and invite her into her circle of friends?

Again, Eunice Boeve creates a readable, page turning tale while at the same time weaving in fascinating historical fact and detail. For instance African Americans in 1888 in the plains of Kansas could not stay in the nearby all white town overnight. Instead they had to camp out in a dugout on the outskirts of town no matter the weather. Ms. Boeve also creates believable characters whose personalities are true to the time, instead of becoming revisionist, which is all too common in literature these days. The book will be highly enjoyed by middle grade and young adult readers.