Meadowlark Books, June 2020
ISBN 9781734247701; $15.00
FIRST RUNNER-UP! Eric Hoffer Book Award – Legacy Fiction, 2023. This category is for fiction books of any type, published more than two years ago. Because, as the good folks at the Hoffer Awards say: “Unlike many in the industry, we think a good book should last for more than a single season.”
First Runner-Up
Opulence, Kansas, Julie Stielstra, Meadowlark Press – Unlike much contemporary young adult fiction, the story is not overwrought with angst and drama, even though it contains many harsh realities. A teenage Chicago girl suffers the shock of her father’s suicide, followed by the jarring culture shift of moving to small-town Kansas, where her surviving parent sends her for the summer. There she finds a new family and meets a boy—who has his own heartbreaks and secrets—and endures more hardships. But like everyone in the story, she comes out stronger and happier, moving forward instead of drowning in a painful past. The setting itself contributes to healing, leading to an upbeat closure.
[Description courtesy of The Eric Hoffer Award]
WINNER! J. Donald and Bertha Coffin Memorial Book Award for Fiction, Kansas Authors Club, 2022
WINNER! Young Adult Book category, High Plains Book Awards, 2021
WINNER! Young Adult Fiction category, Midwest Independent Publishers Book Awards, 2021
Catch me reading a five-minute excerpt from Opulence HERE – it starts at 19 minutes.
Included by the Kansas National Education Association in their 2021 Reading Circle catalog of recommended titles for grades 9-12.
Heather Varnadore, Judge, J. Donald and Bertha Coffin Memorial Book Award: 2022
Stielstra writes with humor and compassion, and her characters are subtle and layered. The tone of the work manages to be uplifting but never sentimental or saccharine. The prose is witty and energetic, and the world she creates is beautifully observed. In Stielstra’s capable hands, rural Kansas itself takes on a vivid character of its own.
Children’s Bookwatch: September 2020
Midwest Book Review
Critique: A superbly crafted, inherently interesting, and thoroughly ‘reader friendly’ novel for ages 13-18, “Opulence, Kansas” by Julie Stielstra is an exceptional and unreservedly recommended addition to middle school, highschool, and community library YA Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that “Opulence, Kansas” is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $5.95).
Barbara Belford, reviewing for Windy City Reviews: Dec. 21, 2020
“…Stielstra does a wonderful job of getting the details of setting right…characters were generally complex and age-level realistic, and very easy to love. This is definitely a character-driven story. Opulence, Kansas has multi-generational characters who are valued, which was refreshing and unusual for a young adult book… 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?”
Finalist, Young Adult Fiction category, High Plains Book Awards, 2021 – click HERE for a lovely review in the Billings (MT) Gazette – thank you, Lena Sleight of the Billings Public Library!
Daughter of privilege, private-school student Katie Myrdal’s world is rocked when her finance-wizard father is found dead in his Porsche—a suicide. There’s more wreckage to clean up than she could have imagined. Katie escapes to the Kansas farmstead of her barely-known aunt and uncle near the small town of Opulence. Plummeting from a high-rise, big city condo to a tree-shrouded, yellow house on the prairie, Katie discovers other kinds of wealth—the richness of friendship, hidden gifts, tragic secrets, and how the balm of time will help her turn her life in a new direction.
June 2020: Friends in District 6 of the Kansas Authors Club invited me to talk about the background and development of Opulence, Kansas – the place, the people, and the story. A recorded version of my presentation is HERE, on YouTube.
October 2020: Emporia State University invited me to do a virtual reading for their Hornet TV platform. Catch the recording on YouTube.
ATTENTION LIBRARIANS! Opulence is also available to add to your collection of e-books from Overdrive (aka Media on Demand / Libby).
Currently available for e-book borrowing from:
Kansas State Library CloudLibrary – requires Kansas eCard (from any Kansas library) and the cloudLibrary app on your device.
Available now from / through your local bookstore (please support them!) and:
Meadowlark Books
Watermark Books (Wichita)
Crow & Co. Books (Hutchinson)
Round Table Bookstore (Topeka)
Raven Book Store (Lawrence)
Bookshop.org (Select your favorite bookstore and your order will support them)
Amazon (Use Amazon Smile to support a good cause!)
Barnes & Noble
IndieBound
Smashwords
Would you like a signed bookplate sticker for your copy? Click on Contact Me at the top of the screen and send me your request and mailing address, OR click HERE and fill out the form.
If you like Opulence, feel free to drop a review on Goodreads.com or Amazon!