Tag: Barb Stuber

photo of an orchard with sprinklers running on it, and mountains in background
Posted in So Many Good Books, YA Novels

YA Books Set in Places I’ve Lived

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

This was a harder list for me to create as I don’t read as much YA as I do middle grade. And I’ve probably missed some. But I hope you find it interesting.

OREGON

A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier

Eyes of the Forest and Girl, Stolen are just a couple of April Henry’s many books.

Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

KANSAS

Crossing the Tracks by Barb Stuber

WASHINGTON

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough

Lovely, Dark, and Deep by Justina Chen

Tell Me a Secret and Don’t Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala

The Year We Were Famous by Carole Estby Dagg

States I’m missing are Colorado and New Jersey. When I lived in those places, my kids were very young which influenced my reading. But I recently found this interesting list: “YA Books Set in Each US State” with a form to add any books you’ve written set in a specific state.

Posted in So Many Good Books, YA Novels

Crossing the Tracks

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

How could you not care?

crossing the tracksI just read Crossing the Tracks (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010) by Barb Stuber. The story starts in November 1916 with the line: “I’m under Mama’s coffin.” On the next page little Iris says about her mother, “I tried to stop breathing like her, but I couldn’t.”
Chapter 1 fast forwards to April 1926. Iris is 15. “I pull my hand form our mailbox, the letter bent in my fingers, my mind reeling. An official letter for Daddy from a doctor. A bud of panic starts to grow in me.”
Barb has written a sympathetic character who has to deal with the injustices in her life. Will anyone help her through these tough times? You’ll have to read it to find out.
A bonus on Barb’s website is that she shares pictures that inspired different aspects of her book. She also works as a docent at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, which she says, “simply crawling with ‘writery’ inspiration.”
Crossing the Tracks is set in Kansas.