Maggie Vaults Over the Moon

Tag Archives: Kirkus Reviews


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Come on Down! Maggie Travels to Texas River Vault Championship!

‘Maggie’ will be presented to the top female pole-vaulters at the Texas River Vault Championships in San Marcos Texas.

Didya hear the BIG news? Maggie is headed to Texas!

The gutsy farm girl from Grain Valley, Kan., will be ridin’ high atop the awards stand Saturday, June 15th, at the Texas River Vault Championship.

As many as 300 vaulters are expected to compete in one of the biggest pole-vault festivals in the nation — an event so Texas-sized that it includes seven categories just for female vaulters!

A copy of the inspirational sports novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon will be presented the top female finishers.

Held alongside the beautiful San Marcos River on the campus of Texas State University–San Marcos, some 280 athletes will compete from early morning until the stars shine big and bright for the title of “Texas River Vault Champion.”

The beautiful San Marcos River is the setting for the Texas River Vault Championship.

“Of all the great things that have happened to Maggie, this is one of the best so far,” said author Grant Overstake. “She’s humbled and honored and a little bit nervous about a trip down to Texas, because, as they say, San Marcos is a fur piece from Grain Valley.” Continue Reading →


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‘Maggie’ Fans Flock to Book Signing and Reading at Watermark Books!

Author Grant Overstake reads from 'Maggie Vaults Over the Moon' April 11th, 2013, at Watermark Books in Wichita. (Photo by Carl Williams)

Author Grant Overstake reads from ‘Maggie Vaults Over the Moon’ April 11th, 2013, at Watermark Books in Wichita. (Photo by Carl Williams)

An overflow crowd of nearly 70 Maggie Steele fans gathered at Watermark Books & Cafe Thursday night, April 11th, to hear Grant Overstake read from his new sports novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon.

Author Grant Overstake reads from 'Maggie Vaults Over the Moon'. (Photo by Carl Williams)

Author Grant Overstake reads from ‘Maggie Vaults Over the Moon’. (Photo by Carl Williams)

It was an overwhelming show of support for the gutsy teen from Grain Valley, Kansas, whose compelling story of courage and triumph is capturing the hearts of readers young and old.

“Words can’t express how great it was to see so many people at this event,” said Overstake, a Wichita native. “I saw some people I hadn’t seen since third grade and met many new friends. To experience a reading and book signing event at Watermark was one of the highlights of my life. To see them putting out more chairs to seat all the people, well, it was just awesome.” Continue Reading →


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Watch: ‘Maggie’ Author Grant Overstake Is Featured Guest On ‘Keyhole Conversations’ Program

grant promo of maggie copy

Maggie Vaults Over the Moon author Grant Overstake is this week’s featured guest on Keyhole Conversations, an interview program especially for Kansas-based writers and authors.

The interview by hostess Bonnie Eaton and director/producer Hazel Hart KeyholeConversationsBannertook place in advance of the author’s reading and book signing event, to be held Thursday, April 11th, at 7 p.m., at Wichita’s premier bookseller, Watermark Books & Cafe. Continue Reading →


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Food In Fiction: Maggie’s Nostalgic Harvest Dinner Scene Featured In ‘But What Are They Eating?’

GRAIN VALLEY, Kan. — The nostalgic and mouth-watering field harvest dinner scene in Grant Overstake’s new teen novel Maggie Vaults Over the Moon has been featured in the But What Are They Eating? blog, written by Shelley Workinger.

ShelleyWorkinger

Author Shelley Workinger has devoted an entire blog to FoodFic, the creative use of food in fiction.

‘Maggie’ retells the story of Maggie Steele, a gritty farm girl who pours her broken heart into the daring and dangerous sport of pole-vaulting.

Kirkus Reviews says the novel “…exudes sweetness; in some ways, it feels as if it takes place in another era, as it lacks the dark edge seen in other popular young adult stories…”

A morsel of this story’s other-era sweetness can be tasted in a nostalgic food scene in which the stressed and grieving Steele family takes a break from a long day’s harvesting to savor a fresh, home-cooked dinner – transported from the farmhouse kitchen to a half-cut Kansas wheat field.

Workinger is the successful author of the The SOLID Series. When she’s not working on her own books, she’s chatting about FoodFic on her blog, which is completely devoted to the creative use of food in fiction.

Read about Maggie’s harvest dinner scene at But What Are They Eating?


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Do You Feel Yourself Soaring With Maggie? Science Explains Why

Kansas High School State Champion Taylor Marie Swanson felt herself soaring again reading "Maggie Vaults Over the Moon."

Kansas High School State Champion Taylor Marie Swanson felt herself soaring to a gold medal again reading “Maggie Vaults Over the Moon.”

If you feel yourself taking flight with heroine Maggie Steele as she pole-vaults over the moon, don’t be surprised.

Many readers of the new teen novel Maggie Vaults Over the Moon have actually felt the physical sensation of vaulting higher and higher – and a new study explains why.

According to the article, “Your Brain on Fiction”, something amazing happens to our brain when we simply read about fictional characters doing exciting and dramatic things. Our brain responds like we’re really doing those things ourselves. The study shows that when Maggie takes flight, readers do, too.

Maggie Vaults Over the MoonWriting for The New York Times, Annie Murphy Paul reports that, while many people today are fixated with digital devices and spending most of their free time on Facebook or Twitter, new evidence shows we could all benefit from putting away our smart phones and reading good fiction.

According to the story, scientists have come to realize that, to the brain, a fictional account can seem even more real than the real world: Continue Reading →


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‘Maggie’ a ‘Sweet’ Teen Gift from Older ‘Influential’ Readers

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While the young adult sports novel Maggie Vaults Over the Moon has gotten plenty of great reviews from middle school and high school readers, the newly-released book has received just as many, if not more, rave reviews from older readers, who’ve soared over many, many, moons themselves.

It may come as a surprise that so many grownups are reading Maggie for their own enjoyment, but a recent study shows that today’s YA (young adult) novels are attracting more older readers than teen readers to the “young adult” bookshelves overall.

Maggie Vaults Over the MoonThe study, by Bowker’s, titled, Understanding the Children’s Book Consumer in the Digital Age, revealed, “that 84% of YA [young adult] books are being purchased by consumers 18 or older… The second-largest demographic was age 30-44; within that segment… fully 80% of respondents reported ‘they bought the book for themselves.’” Continue Reading →


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Maggie Vaults to the Top in Kirkus Reviews Magazine!

Maggie Vaults Over the Moon received top billing in the December 15th print edition of Kirkus Reviews magazine, a trade periodical read by kirkus_logo-150x117thousands of librarians and independent booksellers nationwide.  Kirkus editors select a limited number of reviews KirkusReviewCover129from each genre to feature in each issue of the magazine, which is published twice per month. The selections are 100% at their discretion, and they typically choose the strongest reviews in a variety of genres. To get a positive review from Kirkus is a great honor. Most of the reviews are published Online, so to have a review selected for the print edition is amazing. Even better, to have a quote from Maggie’s review highlighted at the top of the page is… just like Christmas! Merry Christmas, Maggie!

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‘Maggie’ Author Featured in Kansas Press Association News

KPA LogoKPAStoryKansas Press Association was organized in 1863 to serve, improve and promote the newspaper industry, and to protect the rights of a free press. Today, Kansas Press represents more than 235 member newspapers throughout the state, including 31 dailies and approximately 200 non-dailies.


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Exciting New Heights for “Maggie” — A Great Kirkus Review!

Maggie is soaring high in the clouds today because…

Kirkus Reviews, a notoriously tough book reviewer, just finished its full review of Maggie Vaults Over the Moon and… It’s awesome!

We can’t post the full review yet. Kirkus does that first on its website, later in the month, then we can link to it.  We can post the following quotes, which show how much the reviewer liked the story:

“In this debut young adult novel, a farm girl rebounds after a family tragedy, soaring to new heights as a pole-vaulter…

“Overstake’s novel exudes sweetness… it feels as if it takes place in another era, as it lacks the dark edge seen in other popular YA stories.

“…Overstake’s crisp style also gives the pole-vaulting scenes authenticity and tension. The story will most likely engage younger teenage girls, but its themes will resonate with anyone who has suffered profound loss.

“A fine YA novel about perseverance in sports and in life.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS

All we can add is, “Go Maggie! Go!”

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