'Maggie' Inspires Noted Kansas Author Tracy Million Simmons

Maggie Vaults Over the Moon has received an enthusiastic Sunday Book Review from award-winning Kansas author Tracy Million Simmons.

A notable fixture on the Kansas authors' scene, Simmons has been honored by the Kansas Arts Commission, the Kansas Voices Contest, and has been active in the Kansas Authors Club for more than a decade. In addition to writing, book reviewing and blogging, she also is the manager of the Emporia Farmers Market.And, like the novel's heroine, Maggie Steele, Simmons grew up on a Kansas family farm, helped with wheat harvests, and even showed lambs at the 4-H county fair!"To have someone with Tracy's roots and writing ability identify so deeply with Maggie and and the setting of Grain Valley is very meaningful to me," said author Grant Overstake, who added, "Tracy's new book, Tiger Hunting is also set in Kansas, and it's a wonderful read."READ TRACY MILLION SIMMON'S REVIEW OF MAGGIE VAULTS OVER THE MOON:Maggie Vaults Over the Moon arrived in my mailbox a little more than a week ago and I flipped it open, thinking I'd check out the first chapter or two and then put it on my to-read stack to be reviewed later. A chapter or two wasn't enough, however, I fell right into the story and it became my go-to book this week even though I had very little time for reading.The book opens with a tragedy that also felt immensely and deeply real. I shed a few tears and read quickly, eager to learn how Maggie would cope. The cover and the title were a clue, of course, but it became important to learn how she got there. I even spent an afternoon watching pole vaulters on YouTube because I had no previous experience with the sport and I wanted to be able to more thoroughly visualize Maggie's progress.Though the story was well-grounded in a Kansas setting, it had little sparks of the mystical, as well. I was inspired and would recommend this book to all of my young reading friends. It might be categorized as Young Adult Sports Fiction, but it is a story that I think readers of all ages will appreciate.