The Beef Princess of Practical County

After years of waiting, it is finally Libby Ryan's turn to shine at the Practical County Fair. Libby is filled with excitement as she and her granddad pick out two calves for her to raise on her family's cattle farm, in hopes of winning the annual steer competition. Against her father's advice, Libby gives the calves names, even though both steers will eventually be auctioned off. After a few months of preparing for the Practical County Fair, Libby finds that she is growing closer to her steers with each passing day, and the pressure to win Grand Champion is mounting. Luckily, Libby can count on her best friend to get her through most of the county fair chaos. Yet once reality sets in and she realizes that her steers will soon be sold to the highest bidder, the chaos in Libby's heart becomes too much to bear. Michelle Houts lives on a grain and livestock farm in West Central Ohio with her husband and three children. This is her first novel. From the Hardcover edition.

Michelle Houts lives and writes on a farm in western Ohio where she and the farmer of her dreams are raising three children, some cattle, goats, a whole passel of barn cats, and a Great Pyrenees named Hercules.

Michelle writes for children of all ages, but most of her books are for middle grade readers. THE BEEF PRINCESS OF PRACTICAL COUNTY was Michelle’s debut novel, winning the International Reading Association Award for Intermediate Fiction and the Nebraska Farm Bureau Children’s Agricultural Book of the Year.  The Practical County adventures continued in THE PRACTICAL COUNTY DRAMA QUEEN. Michelle is also the author of the magical tale WINTERFROST and the nonfiction book KAMMIE ON FIRST: BASEBALL’S DOTTIE KAMENSHEK, the story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League team the Rockford Peaches’ first baseman, Dottie Kamenshek.