What is Friendship?

Something that is better illustrated than defined.

Ranch Girl and the Plan, Book #3

Before his illness, Mr. Greely had been in great demand throughout the county and well beyond. A fancy store in Dallas sold his candlesticks, small tables, delicate desks, and stools. He built fine book cases and cabinets in new homes and finished their fancy woodwork. He couldn’t keep up with all the work he had. Customers waited months and months to get Joe Greely to take care of their projects. She’d (Kelsi) heard he’d been training Toby to help him. She had not asked Toby the truth of it, though..

“It’s a sorrowful thing,” Momma said when Kelsi asked her about Mr. Greely. “Things happen to people.” She left it at that.

Kelsi heard her say  to Dad once, “Children should not be saddled with the cares of the world too early—if it can be helped.” But with Christmas on the horizon, Kelsi felt saddled with a few of those cares. She wanted the Greelys to be happy again, not just brave and hanging on as best they could. That is what Dad had said, “They are hanging on as best they can.”

Surely she and Ampara could do something. Something that would mean a happy Christmas.

The third book in the Ranch Girl Series, is a book about the growing, deep friendship of friends Kelsi, Ampara, and Toby. This book strives to understand what true friendship is as two young girls, eleven-year-old Kelsi and ten-year-old Ampara, work together to encourage joy, hope, and comfort for their friend and his family.  

Ranch Girl and a Boy Named Toby (2025), Book #2

When Kelsi got off the bus at school, she decided to speed walk toward her classroom, both hands clenched, slinging her arms up and down with the power of a pumpjack but the velocity of a gazelle. They were not allowed to run. Even so, she crossed the bus yard to the ancient elementary building in record speed, whizzing past faces and hair ribbons and cowboy hats and caps and boots and arms and backpacks and sneakers without recognizing a single person. She stared straight ahead, her eyes on the prize: a desk by one of the tall windows on the east side of the room. Rushing in the front hall, she envisioned her perch beside that window where she’d watch cardinals and mockingbirds, where she’d see Mr. Richards mow and water and tidy up the grounds, where occasionally she’d watch a momma skunk and babies prance by in unison like a high school drill team.

But—as soon as she crossed the threshold to the fourth and fifth grade room, her breath escaped her throat like a balloon deflating. They were taken. All six of them. Toby had taken the back window seat, the one she’d particularly longed for. She couldn’t believe it. Why would Toby want a window seat? He’d rather talk than look out the window. He was a talker, a doer, someone always at front of the parade… (So Kelsi decided to wait for Ampara in the hall.) Toby walked out at the same time. She ignored him.

“Hey, Kelsi Elsie, did you spend the summer in a flour barrel?” he called out.

“Shut up, Toby,” she said in her head. She had to say it in her head because she wasn’t allowed to say shut up to anyone. She thought Toby should be an exception to her parents’ rule, but she managed to walk away, her shoulders back with what she considered a semblance of dignity.

“I think I see a little flour pouring out your sleeve there.” He followed her and pointed toward her arm.

Kelsi felt her right-hand curl into a tight fist. She wanted to punch him straight in the face. She could almost see the blood oozing from his nose and him running off like a big ole crybaby. Hooligan. Momma would say she was a hooligan. And if there was one thing Momma couldn’t stand, it was hooligans.

This second book of the series introduces readers to a new character,Toby Greely, as well as his family—mother, father, and a younger brother and sister. Toby is a boy who becomes, at first, a thorn in Kelsi’s side by taking the classroom seat she wanted  and then insulting her. The two get into a tussle at school, which does not bode well for either of them until Kelsi and Ampara learn why Toby needs the quiet window seat. A Great Egret begins mysteriously appearing at the Fairgate ranch as Kelsi and Ampara come to understand their new friend’s sadness and anger. But good times also abound, including a Halloween party where Ampara’s six-grade brother Raul tells a scary story.   

Ranch Girl and the Orphan Lamb Adventure (2024), Book #1

During the night, Kelsi awoke to the rumble of thunder. The air from her window felt warm and heavy. She leaned out of bed and peered into the sky, finding in the inky darkness no moon, no stars, nothing—until a sudden streak of lightning split the air, illuminating a bank of threating purple and green clouds shrouding the horizon. The wind began to freshen, then picked up strength, blowing her curtains against the bed. She reached up and pulled the window shut, slid out of bed, and tiptoed to the hall closet to get Dad’s big flashlight. From there,  she made her way cautiously through the kitchen and onto the screened-in back porch, trying not to waken her mother and dad as she pulled her work boots over bare, sockless feet. The boots squeaked and pinched at her ankles as she crossed the porch, but she could think only of Dopey.

Outside, Kelsi pointed the flashlight across her father’s boot tracks that led to the yard gate, its strong beam shooting into the lot beyond but far enough to reach the shed where her lamb lay. Kelsi rushed on, stumbling over the corner of a flower bed. Her feet flew out from under her, and she was unable to suppress a wrenching cry as she landed on the hard ground only a few yards from her parents’ window.

Kelsi switched off the flashlight and held her breath. Her back ached as she waited. All she heard was her father’s snore. Relieved, she scrambled to her feet and switched the flashlight back on. As she worked her way across the yard to the gate, lightning danced overhead. Thunder grew louder and louder. She’d need to get to Dopey before the rain and hail ripped through the blackness above her. She had to!

In this first book of the Ranch Girl Series, Kelsi implores her parents to let her raise an orphan lamb they’ve brought up from the sheep pasture. The Fairgates—Kelsi’s parents—are not sure about this. They usually give newborn orphan lambs away because they do not have the time it takes to care for an orphan.

In this book, Kelsi is nearing the end of her fourth-grade school year and assures her parents she will take care of the lamb. Kelsi, the lamb, and Kelsi’s best friend-in-the-world Ampara Sanchez have both fun and harrowing adventures with the lamb Kelsi has named Dopey.

What are some of the themes in these books?

I believe the themes in the Ranch Girl books revolve around the importance of  friendship, family, love,  responsibility, caring about others, working hard, playing hard, and not taking oneself too seriously.

If your local bookstore does not have my books in stock, the store can order them for you to pick up. Or you can find them online at the usual places. Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Books-a-Million, Wal-Mart, etc.  My books are for middle-grade readers or for all readers from 7 to 97 years old.Thanks for reading.