Riding Wild

In this high-interest accessible novel for middle-grade readers, a twelve-year-old girl learns to ride bulls in order to be close to the famous bull-riding father she lost long ago. Twelve-year-old Victoria Vic Smith is not excited about summer in Willow Falls, Oklahoma. Uprooted from her friends and her home, Vic is staying at her grandpa's cattle ranch there while her mother works and saves up money for a new house. At least the town holds rodeos where she can show off her barrel-racing skills on her trusty horse, Buddy. But otherwise, Willow Falls seems to have nothing but mean girls and mysteries about her dad's past, a past her mom won't say a word about. When Vic discovers that her father had been a famous bull rider, she knows she has to try the sport that he loved so much. But bull riding is dangerous, predominantly done by boys and men, and something her mom is vehemently against. Can Vic convince her mom to give her this chance to know the father she lost long ago? AGES: 7 to 9 AUTHOR: Although she has never ridden a bull, Michelle L. Brown has been bucked off her share of ornery horses. Some of her favorite memories are of helping her grandpa with cattle on the ranch. These days, she spends her time rounding up her big family and herding her pet posse, which includes a Great Pyrenees, a French bulldog, a parrot, a Betta fish, and two hamsters.