Overview

"Winner, 2021 Midwest Book Awards, Young Adult Category Finalist, 2021 High Plains Book Award Selected as a ""recommended title"" by the Kansas National Education Association's Reading Circle Commission. When Katie Myrdal's father is found dead in his Porsche, everything she thought she knew about her family is shaken. Her uncle Len and his wife Maggie-relatives she barely knew existed-show up at the funeral and offer an escape for the summer to their Kansas farm. Katie abandons her Chicago Gold Coast high-rise life to land beneath the wider skies of the prairie. Grappling with loss and disillusionment, Katie must forge new skills and new friendships in a small town called Opulence, a town holding secrets and riches she will need before she can go back home."

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9781734247701

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Reviews

Julie Stielstra captured the essence of an adolescent from Chicago who visits a small Kansas community. After the shocking death of her father, her mother recommends spending a summer with an aunt and uncle on their farm. Katherine (Katie) Myrdal lived on the nineteenth floor of a luxury condo with a glamorous view of Lake Michigan. Her father's expensive tastes in clothing, watches, and vehicles did not influence her desire for a lavish lifestyle. While her mother was connected to established, popular boards, clubs, committees, and social groups, introverted Katie appreciated poetry, reading, and photography. Stielstra explores the dynamic and complicated connections among people. In an age of expression, Katie observes, listens, and learns from her Aunt Maggie how to percolate coffee, garden, raise chickens, and cook. She gains insight from her Uncle Len who teaches her to drive his truck on county gravel roads, fix fence, and routine ranch maintenance. People out here knew how to live with the space between them provided Katie's recognition of the strength and uniqueness of rural and city life. When a local boy befriends Katie, they explore an abandoned opera house, an underground historic diner, cellar, and barroom. Since Travis lost his father tragically in a house fire, they share anguished experiences. When Katie noticed her uncle's ornate Civil War pocket watch, her natural curiosity directed her to a jeweler for repairs creating another friendship. Opulence is complete with heartache, romance, conflict, and resolution. Unpredictable events exhilarate the reader with delightful developments. Bird imagery, landscape themes, the beauty of the sunrise and sunset, a dancing thunderstorm, the intensity of tornado damage, and livestock management enhance the story. The shape, sort of bones, and muscles under the grass define the fascinating, scenic Flint Hills. Colloquial language transforms the reader into the setting where simple pleasures are common experiences; a church picnic unites community members; and neighbors support each other. The story leaves the reader with a sense of hope, Lots can happen in a short or a long time. We'll just let it. Life in Kansas is not better or worse than living in Chicago. Each person in any environment has tremendous potential to contribute and be successful. Imitating her aunt and uncle, Katie cleverly plants seeds encouraging others to follow their dream. If you appreciate characters who face disappointment and obstacles with tenacity, Opulence delivers talented, hardworking, dedicated personalities who overcome adversity and make a difference. Carmaine Ternes Librarian, Author, Presenter, and Book Reviewer January 2020

If you know a YA reader who needs some hope and likes a little romance with a feel-good ending, I highly recommend this book. While reading it, I kept thinking of someone I know who will love it. And isn't that the sign of a good book? When you can't wait to share it? -Barbara Belford, Windy City Reviews A superbly crafted, inherently interesting, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' novel . . . -Midwest Book Review Julie Stielstra captured the essence of an adolescent from Chicago who visits a small Kansas community. After the shocking death of her father, her mother recommends spending a summer with an aunt and uncle on their farm. Katherine (Katie) Myrdal lived on the nineteenth floor of a luxury condo with a glamorous view of Lake Michigan. Her father's expensive tastes in clothing, watches, and vehicles did not influence her desire for a lavish lifestyle. While her mother was connected to established, popular boards, clubs, committees, and social groups, introverted Katie appreciated poetry, reading, and photography. Stielstra explores the dynamic and complicated connections among people. In an age of expression, Katie observes, listens, and learns from her Aunt Maggie how to percolate coffee, garden, raise chickens, and cook. She gains insight from her Uncle Len who teaches her to drive his truck on county gravel roads, fix fence, and routine ranch maintenance. People out here knew how to live with the space between them provided Katie's recognition of the strength and uniqueness of rural and city life. When a local boy befriends Katie, they explore an abandoned opera house, an underground historic diner, cellar, and barroom. Since Travis lost his father tragically in a house fire, they share anguished experiences. When Katie noticed her uncle's ornate Civil War pocket watch, her natural curiosity directed her to a jeweler for repairs creating another friendship. Opulence is complete with heartache, romance, conflict, and resolution. Unpredictable events exhilarate the reader with delightful developments. Bird imagery, landscape themes, the beauty of the sunrise and sunset, a dancing thunderstorm, the intensity of tornado damage, and livestock management enhance the story. The shape, sort of bones, and muscles under the grass define the fascinating, scenic Flint Hills. Colloquial language transforms the reader into the setting where simple pleasures are common experiences; a church picnic unites community members; and neighbors support each other. The story leaves the reader with a sense of hope, Lots can happen in a short or a long time. We'll just let it. Life in Kansas is not better or worse than living in Chicago. Each person in any environment has tremendous potential to contribute and be successful. Imitating her aunt and uncle, Katie cleverly plants seeds encouraging others to follow their dream. If you appreciate characters who face disappointment and obstacles with tenacity, Opulence delivers talented, hardworking, dedicated personalities who overcome adversity and make a difference. -Carmaine Ternes Librarian, Author, Presenter, and Book Reviewer January 2020

Author Information

"Twenty years ago, Julie Stielstra, her husband, and their two dogs used to go camping, hiking and birding in southern Colorado. One day, while looking at the Rand McNally Road Atlas, (remember those?) she saw a blue blob north of Great Bend, Kansas, and said, ""Look! A wildlife refuge! Let's see what it's like."" Shortly thereafter, they stopped going to Colorado and just stayed in Kansas. Then they bought a house five miles from the blue blob that was Cheyenne Bottoms, and that's where she wants her ashes scattered, though not quite yet. The original two dogs are gone, but there are two more now and numerous cats (some Kansas natives) added to the population. And there will be chickens, pending approval of the resident barn owl."

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