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. 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. 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). Product Details About the Author Product Details About the Author CAROLINE STARR ROSE spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. Caroline Starr Rose has written a beautiful, touching story based on the tragedy that is known to history as the Lost Colony. When a failed wheat crop nearly bankrupts the Betterly family, twelve-year-old Mays father pulls her from school.

It was also necessary to have wolves around. Caroline Starr Rose's fast-paced novel, written in beautiful and riveting verse, gives readers a strong new heroine to love. Available in National Library (Singapore). I wanted her in a part of western Kansas that wasn’t very developed and was semi-close to a railroad. There’s a reference in the story to THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, so the book had to take place in 1876 or later. One special challenge was locating where May’s sod house stood.

May b by caroline starr rose