Thirteen-year-old Mary Lovella Grady thrived on her grandparents' tales of the Crossover Ranch, a modern ranch shaped by all its past inhabitants. Grampa Hank promised the ranch would be Lovie's someday but her dream of inheriting the multigenerational Texas ranch is turning into a nightmare. First Granny died, then Grampa Hank was killed in a horseback accident and now the "death tax" is poised to take a fatal bite out of the ranch. Lovie is furious with her mother for selling Grampa Hank's horses and cattle to pay inheritance taxes and her anger has attracted El Lobo who turns up in the middle of every ranch tragedy. Join Lovie, along with Big Foot, Brownie, Cotton, Dingo and Fireball, as they are drawn into the dream Granny never realized in life, where past inhabitants of the ranch are still determining its future-and Lovie's survival. KAREN KELLING received an Agricultural Economics degree from New Mexico State University when it was unusual for women to pursue that course of study. She ranches in the red mesa country near Cuervo, New Mexico, with the shy fellow who sat next to her in alphabetical order in Horticulture 100. Their four daughters were their ranch's only "cowboys." She invites ranch-raised kids-and kids who might only experience a contemporary family ranch by reading-to saddle up and get ready for an exciting ride!