Eunice Boeve


Middle Grade/YA/Adult

History/Fiction
Trapped! the True Story of a Pioneer Girl
A pioneer story of true courage in the midst of overwhelming adversity.
The Summer of the Crow
Dust storms, rabbit drives, bootleggers, and hoboes all part of life in the Great Depression.
A Window to the World
A family must go against society's laws to aid a runaway slave.
Maggie Rose and Sass
Two girls of different cultures and races learn that they are more alike than different.
western fiction
Ride a Shadowed Trail
A story of murder, cowboys, cattle drives, outlaws, young love, sorrow, and joy set in 1870s Texas

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Maggie Rose and Sass
A 2006 Kansas Notable Book

Maggie Rose had expected a bigger town, but what surprised her more as the driver drove his mules down through what appeared to be the main street of the town, the only people about were colored. Panic clutched at her and she swung around, searching the street for a white face. At a chuckle from Hattie, she looked up at the usually somber-faced woman.
"Sure didn't 'pect to find this many coloreds 'round here," Hattie said.
Fear rose up drying Maggie Rose's mouth. She licked her lips and swallowed. What? Was this town full of colored people?"
**************
They stopped to eat at midday in their usual place beside a hill of limestone rock where a few trees grew along a stream bank providing shade. Here Mama still reminded Sass how to act in Prairie City.
"Remember," she said, "you don't look white folks in the eyes and you step clear down into the street if they's comin' by. Don't go to openin'your mouth less'n you're spoken to and don't be puttin' your fingers on nothing that's sittin' in a store to be for sale."
Sass who could repeat her warnings word for word, heard a squirrel chatter and looked up to see one jump from a tree limb.
"Evangeline!"
Her mother's use of her real name and the sharp edge to her voice made Sass's cheeks burn with embarrasment. "Sorry, Mama," she said.
 

AR Questions for Maggie Rose and Sass

1. Where did Maggie Rose get the books she smuggled up to her room?
a. Her father’s bookcase
b. Her teacher
c. From Hattie
d. a lending library
Answer: b

2. What was Mr. Martin’s (Sass’s father) occupation?
a. Postmaster
b. Farmer
c. Newspaper publisher
d. A blacksmith
Answer: c

3. What kind of a house did Uncle Caleb have for his family?
a. A dugout
b. A limestone rock house
c. A sod house
d. A two-story frame house
Answer: c

4. When were the “colored” people forbidden to be in Prairie City?
a. After sunrise
b. After sundown
c. More than two days
d. On Sundays
Answer: b

5. Besides honoring the original settlers, why was the Celebration held each summer?
a. Because the people enjoyed it
b. To celebrate the growing of their crops
c. To celebrate the end of slavery.
d. To remember their ancestors
Answer: c

6. What terrified Sass?
a. Deep water
b. Miss Julia’s walking stick
c. Being down in the cellar
d. Snakes
Answer: a

7. What was the unusual mark on Mr. Jacob’s face?
a. A jagged scar
b. A crease across his forehead
c. A birthmark
d. An X
Answer: d

8. What did Aunt Olivia give Maggie Rose to wear?
a. Her mother’s ring
b. Her mother’s necklace
c. Her grandmother’s hair ribbons
d. A new dress
Answer: a

9. Where did Sass and her family eat their supper when they were in Prairie City?
a. In the restaurant
b. In the wagon behind the hotel
c. At their friend’s home
d. At the dugout
Answer: b



10. What did Miss Julia call the evil she thought would come to Solomon Town?
a. The Blue Ghost
b. The Spirit of Past Evils
c. The Troubling Spirit
d. The Demon Spirit
Answer: c


The Kansas State Library and Kansas Center for the Book chose Maggie Rose and Sass, along with 14 other books by Kansas authors or about Kansas, to be designated as Notable Books for 2006. The selection committee consisted of representatives from an academic library, a public library, a regional library system, booksellers, a publisher, a media representative, and a college children's literature professor. The Notable Book authors will be recognized at the first ever Kansas Book Festival in Wichita on Sept 29 and 30. A special presentation will be made at the Black, White, and Read All Over Ball the evening of Sept. 29. For information on the Kansas Book Festival visit www.kansasbookfestival.ks.gov


A Review
Another thought provoking book for young adults from Eunice Boeve, November 28, 2005
Reviewer: J. Nasse "book lover/educator" (New Mexico, USA)

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. It is also a must-have book for classrooms as a resource for history, culture, and civil rights studies.



Review by Mary S. Moffat, Scotland: author, publisher, reviewer
Maggie Rose and Sass, Eunice Boeve, Publish America, 2005, paperback, 144 pages, ISBN 1413779646
Set in 1888, this novel is about two young girls coming to terms with their cultural and racial differences.

Maggie Rose has been brought up in Georgia by her grandmother, a hard, embittered old woman who despises all black people. When she is twelve years old her grandmother dies and Maggie Rose goes to live with her uncle and aunt and young cousins in Kansas. Maggie Rose receives a dreadful shock when she arrives in Solomon Town where the vast majority of its citizens are black. At first she is even frightened.

Things start off badly when two girls make a tentative friendly approach. Maggie Rose rejects this out of shyness and one of the girls, Sass, misinterprets this and forever afterwards refers to her as Miss Uppity White Girl. It takes a tragedy before Maggie Rose and Sass reach an understanding and Maggie Rose comes to realise that black girls are just the same as white girls.

In some ways this is more of an information story than a straight novel. Solomon Town is based on Nicodemus, Kansas, an all-black town settled by ex-slaves in 1877. And there really were towns which prohibited black people from staying overnight.

Black history is woven skilfully into the story –– in two ways in particular. The first is by a detailed description of the Celebration which is a two-day gathering held out in the open on the prairie. This is a kind of picnic with feasting and dancing but there is a serious side to it too when there is a play and songs which tell the story both of the settling of Solomon Town and of the Emancipation of the slaves. The other historical part is the description of the commencement – when the senior school pupils receive their certificates. This also includes a talk and songs of the days of slavery. And then the women of the town show their quilts –– quilts which are stories of their heritage and history.

This is all worked out against the background of ordinary life in a Kansas small town in the 1880s with the dugout houses on the prairies, talk of whether the railroad was going to come to Solomon Town and the hardships of a long winter.

Comes with a historical note.

Well researched and handled very sensitively. Very highly recommended.


*****************************************************

Eunice Boeve has an article on Nicodemus in the 2006 summer issue of the Kansas Traveler, published at 147 N. Delrose, Wichita, KS 67208. The all black town, settled by ex-slaves was fictionalized in her book, Maggie Rose and Sass. Nicodemus was designated a National Historic Site, Nov. 12, 1996, and is a part of the National Parks Service. Maggie Rose and Sass can be purchased at the center in Nicodemus.



For immediate release Nicole Corcoran, Press Secretary
April 6, 2006 785.368.8500

Sebelius joins fellow governors, helping to rebuild a New Orleans library
Governor applauds students’ creativity, sends Kansas book.
Eighth grade students at Metairie Park Country Day School in New Orleans, Louisiana are moving their reconstruction efforts forward after Hurricane Katrina by asking each governor to send them “a book written by a prominent author” from their state.
“What a creative way to help rebuild an important learning resource,” said Governor Kathleen Sebelius. “I applaud this school’s creative approach to replenishing their library, involving their students and every state as well.”
Governor Sebelius, collaborating with the Kansas Center for the Book at the State Library, chose the historical fiction novel titled Maggie Rose and Sass by Phillipsburg author Eunice Boeve. Set in a Kansas town reminiscent of Nicodemus, in Graham County, Maggie Rose and Sass tells the tale of an all African American town settled in 1877 by former slaves from Kentucky.
  The author, Eunice Boeve, has lived in Phillipsburg for 48 years. One of her books received the J. Donald Coffin Award, given each year at the Kansas Author’s Club convention, and two have been Kansas Reading Circle selections. She is a Fellow of the Kansas Center for the Book.
  Maggie Rose and Sass will be added to the Day School's “Governors’ Collection.” These books will be presented to the school by the New Orleans students at their eighth grade graduation on May 26, 2006.


Have you heard of Nicodemus, Kansas?

Maggie Rose and Sass is set in a fictional town based on Nicodemus, an all black town settled in 1878 by ex-slaves from Kentucky. Located in the north central part of the state, this town once boasted a thriving population and was expected to grow even more with the coming of the railroad. But the railroad bypassed Nicodemus and the town dwindled to the present day of fewer than one hundred residents. There is still a strong sense of community in the hearts of those scattered across the nation and each year on the last weekend in July or the first one in August, they gather for a celebration called “The Homecoming” and once again Nicodemus thrives as it did in its glory days.

Nicodemus was named a National Historic Site/Park in 1996. Served by a park ranger and open to the public on a regular basis, the town’s community center houses information on Nicodemus and related African-American heritage.

Maggie Rose and Sass is a valuable source of African-American history in fictional form and would be suitable for Black History Month in February when librarians display books on African-American heritage and teachers weave awareness of Black culture into their lessons. Roy Bird, the Kansas State Library Consultant, author, and the director of the Kansas Center for the Book writes in his endorsement on the book’s back cover, “A memorable addition to Kansas young adult fiction.” Angela Bates, Nicodemus descendant, historian, and author, calls Maggie Rose and Sass, "historically moving."