Cabby Potts, Duchess of Dirt

by Kathleen Wilford, Katie Kear (Artist)

Overview

2023 Kansas Notable Book- Kansas Center for the Book

Youth selection -Great Reads from Great Places- the Library of Congress

"A rousing read"-Kirkus Reviews


Housemaid? What a horrible word! Not that I'd ever actually seen a housemaid, but I could picture one: a meek, aproned, pale-faced girl who never saw the sun.

When her parents force her to work at grand Ashford Manor, 12-year-old Cabby Potts will do anything to escape, including playing matchmaker between her sister and the rich young lord of the manor. If it succeeds, her scheme will save her family's struggling homestead. If it fails . . .Can Cabby find the courage to stand up for her family, a Native American friend, and an entire community threatened by land-grabbers?

A historical middle-grade novel that drops you into 1870's Kansas, with humor, heart, and a dash of romance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781956378047
Publisher:	The Little Press
Publication date:	09/01/2022
Pages:	252
Sales rank:	1,094,881
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.57(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kathleen Wilford was born in Panama and has lived in four different countries and three different states-but never in Kansas. She has always loved to read and was inspired to become a writer by such "classics" as Miss Osborne the Mop. She studied literature at Cornell University and at Rutgers University, where she now teaches writing. When she's not teaching or writing, Kathleen can be found outdoors, mowing the lawn or chasing her disobedient dog. Kathleen believes that to understand where you are, you need to know where you've been. That's why she loves to read and write about the past. Cabby Potts, Duchess of Dirt is her debut middle-grade novel. Connect with Kathleen at kathleenwilford.com and on Twitter at @kathwilford.

Editorial Reviews

"A rousing read"- Kirkus Reviews

"Great historical detail and wonderful, appealing characters in this delightful story told by the clever Cabby Potts, a kindhearted Kansas prairie girl who's filled with gumption and grit." - Anne O'Brien Carelli, author of Skylark & Wallcreeper

"This historical fiction story set in the 1870's, is a fast-paced trip to the days of homesteading on the Kansas prairies.... The author does a wonderful job grounding the reader in time and place with period details and appropriate phrasing and language of the era.... The characters are well-rounded and engaging, making for a quick read. Readers will enjoy Cabby's antics and feisty demeanor as she navigates the unfamiliar world of the wealthy. A highly recommended debut. " - Darlene Beck Jacobson, author of Wheels of Change and Wishes, Dares, and How to Stand up to a Bully.

From the Publisher

2022-07-27
Cabby’s family are homesteaders in Kansas; fires and grasshoppers destroy their crops, but Cabby is determined to continue farming.

Twelve-year-old Catherine “Cabby” Potts isn’t aware that her parents may lose their claim until they force her to go work in Lady Ashford’s prairie manor. With no crops to sell, the family needs her wages. Independent-minded Cabby hates servitude and resents the classism of snooty Londoner Lady Ashford and her youngest son, Nigel. But that doesn’t stop her from matchmaking her sister, Emmeline, with Nigel, thinking the marriage will solve the family’s financial woes. To Cabby’s shock, although Nigel initially seemed interested in Emmeline, he in fact looks down on her. Cabby also discovers that Nigel and his associates are tricking her family and other homesteaders out of land they claimed for themselves. This storyline is juxtaposed with Cabby’s growing understanding of how these families acquired their land at the cost of Kiowa, Cheyenne, Kansa, and Wichita people. She becomes aware of the way her White neighbors disdain the town’s remaining Kiowa residents. With each episodic adventure narrated in Cabby’s first-person voice, Cabby earns the grudging respect of Lady Ashford and the trust of her Kiowa and White friend, Eli Lewis, a boy who works as the Ashfords’ groom. Throughout, she questions the nature of love and partnership, and, with new self-confidence, she ultimately exposes the fraudsters. Despite life’s uncertainties, one thing is clear: Cabby will determine her own path.

A rousing read. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews