Cowgirl Dreams

Cowgirl Dreams
by Heidi M. Thomas

COWGIRL DREAMS by

Category:

Historical

Age Recommendation:

Grades 6+

Release Date: 11/30/08

Publisher: Treble Heart Books/Sundowners

Reviewed by:

Rating:

5 Stars

Fifteen-year-old Nettie Brady loves nothing more than riding fast with her horse and helping her father and

brothers with the “men’s work” on her family’s small ranch in Montana. Her dream, the most perfect life she can

imagine, is to travel the rodeo circuit and win money by riding steers and broncs - the same as her hero, Marie

Gibson.

However, there’s no way Nettie’s mother would ever allow it, since that kind of life is far too dangerous and

Nettie

doesn’t need to become one of those “loose women.” Besides, Nettie needs to learn how to cook and sew

and properly care for the family that she will inevitably have one day.

Nettie doesn’t think so; she can’t imagine marrying a man who would expect her to cook and sew all day instead

of being outside, where she’s happiest.

A chance meeting with Marie Gibson herself gives Nettie the hope that maybe her own dreams aren’t so

unattainable. With Marie’s help and encouragement, Nettie learns that even good, married girls can ride in rodeos

and own ranches, just as well as the men. But even the women of rodeo face a little discrimination, and Nettie

wonders if girls will ever get a chance to fully prove themselves.

Will Nettie one day find a cowboy of her own who understands her heart? And will she ever get her Mama to

understand that what she wants for Nettie is not necessarily what Nettie wants for herself?

This lovely story, based on the life of the author’s grandmother, provides a real window into the challenges that

women riders faced back in the 1920s. The author’s bio promises that COWGIRL DREAMS is the first in a

series about the independent women of Montana.