When I first talked to Marisa Betts in December 2022, she was driving to doctor’s appointment. I called her to schedule an interview about her first children’s book “Rowdy Ringo” for a High Plains Journal cover story. She told me later that she was so excited about the phone call she warned the nurse to let her calm down before they checked her blood pressure.
In less than a year, Betts has many more reasons to be excited. She welcomed her second child this spring and published two more books in her Cow Tales series, “Goodnight Moo” and “Rowdy Ringo & the Cowboys.”
Through her days in 4-H, Betts developed a love for livestock and telling stories. Once she had children of her own she noticed there weren’t many children’s stories that reflected what she had experienced growing up. So Betts got to work.
She always had a fondness for orphaned calves that had been rejected by the cow or were a twin the cow couldn’t raise. Her stories center on these small calves with big personalities.
“Goodnight Moo” is based on a very special bucket calf that was her daughter’s favorite and her newest book “Rowdy Ringo & the Cowboys” brings back her beloved Ringo. All of Betts’s books are available on amazon.com.
Keep an eye out for next week’s issue where there will be a review of “Rowdy Ringo and the Cowboys.”
To read the cover story on Betts and “Rowdy Ringo,” the first book in Betts’s Cow Tales series, visit https://hpj.com/2023/01/13/a-barn-full-of-personality/.