"The Cow's Girl is a true story of the raising of an adopted Angus female calf, and her caretaker, Cowgirl. A sequel to The Cow's Boy: The Making of a Real Cowboy, this is the story of the careful nurturing of a black Angus heifer calf named Olivia who got accidentally separated from her real mother by a fence at the age of three days. Taken on as a 4-H Bucket Calf Project, Olivia is fed by Cowgirl twice a day not from a bucket but from two large bottles of formula. Cowgirl feeds Olivia from the bottles so she can pat her head and reassure her with contact while she is being fed. Another Bucket Calf Project is a calf named Oliver, fed now by Cowgirl's younger brother. Brilliant full color photos show Cowgirl feeding and caring for Olive, and also playing with her on the ranch. Cowgirl also takes care of other animals on the ranch, including dogs, cats, chickens, and a pet bunny rabbit named Paisley. She even feeds tiny bottles of formula to two small newborn kittens. Cowgirl helps her father and brothers move cows from the upper pasture ranges down to the barn area, riding on her horse, Sassy. Cowgirl grooms and cares for Sassy. Cowgirl has lots of chores, but she also likes to play games, like racing on horseback with her older brother, or riding her motorcycle around the ranch. She is responsible in all her ranch activities, remembering to close gates after she opens them. Cowgirl helps with many activities in animal care, including giving medicine to cows, helping with branding, and preparing meals for other ranchers who help with branding, doctoring, or shipping animals. Most exciting of all, Cowgirl runs a little camp for young cowgirls in training, who learn to feed kittens and do chores with Cowgirl on the ranch. Many color photo illustrations show Cowgirl cleaning and caring for her special animals and projects, and keeping detailed records of the medicine, food, and other care expenses for raising the animal to maturity. When the time comes, Cowgirl carefully shows all her animal 4-H projects at the fair for judging, including Olive and Oliver, the Bucket Calves. She earns many awards, blue and purple ribbons for her special projects for 4-H. She also donates 11 inches of her own beautiful long hair to Locks of Love, an organization for children suffering from hair loss. The Cow's Girl is an excellent true story about the many daily tasks and activities of a real Cowgirl, a responsible young woman who cares for all her ranch animals and pets with tenderness, learning, and respect. It takes a lot of work, but chores and fun go hand in hand for the life of a real Cowgirl."
-Midwest Book Review

"The Cow's Girl: The Making of a Real Cowgirl, by Charlotte Caldwell, offers a sweet, non-saccharine look at the life of a cow's girl from the point of view of the cow - an orphaned Black Angus heifer named Olivia. This kind of photo book (mixing reality with a fictional animal point of view) often can feel amateurish and forced, but there's something very appealing about Caldwell's depiction of the day-to-day life of the Cow's Girl. We follow her 4-H bucket-calf training, then watch as she preps for the fair. For this girl, ranch life is not just about the purple ribbons at the fair - it's about haying time and charity. This look into the day in the life of a cow and her girl will be appealing both to girls who want to be cow's girls and to anyone interested in the real inner workings of a ranch."
-Big Sky Journal