BBR- Levi's Lost Calf

I started a series called the Book Barn Review last Spring and then Flat Aggie took over my life and I forgot about books.  I promise to start doing a better job at telling you what books are out there that tell some pretty good stories about farm and ranch life. 

Levi’s Lost Calf by Amanda Radke

Illustrated by Michelle Weber

My boys love books about farms and ranches.  They especially like ones that could very well be about them and their life on the farm.  A few years back I found the book Levi’s Lost Calf.  When my oldest son was finished reading it, he looked up at me and said that it was the best book he had ever read! Believe me, he has read a lot of books, so this was a HUGE compliment to the author.

Levi is much like my boys and helps out on the ranch.  The family is gathering cattle and his favorite heifer is missing.  As he, on horseback, along with his stock dog look for the calf they find a wide variety of wildlife and show the reader the sites of a typical farm.  

My boys loved seeing the wildlife on the ranch located in South Dakota which is a bit different from Southeast Kansas...we don't see pheasants every day!

Radke even does a great job of bringing a prayer into the end of the book.  A great way to end a bedtime story.  I love a book that leads the prayer for the kids.

Ya’ll know how much I love to cook.  There is a recipe I am going to have to try out in the back of the book for Hungry Cowboy Tin Foil dinners and a dessert option as well.  If it is too good to keep a secret, you know I will share it or some variation of it in my What's For Dinner Wednesday collection (with Amanda's permission of course).

I also like that there is a glossary of terms just like in Cowboy Small for those not accustomed to our vocabulary.  Us farmers and rancher speak a different language sometimes.  It is always good to go back a remind ourselves that we are only 2% of the population and not everyone talks like we do or understands what we are talking about at times.

I may be partial to this book because just as Amanda did I grew up showing Limousin cattle.  Although, I have never met Amanda it amazes me how many things we were both involved in just a decade or so apart.

You can find Amanda online at the Beef Daily Blog.  Follow her on Twitter.  If you are looking to buy a copy of the book, check out Cowgirl Crush, which happens to be an online store owned by Amanda's sister.

-A Kansas Farm Mom

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