Where Would Cows Hide - review, interview and giveaway

**How did you come up with your characters, Charlie and Brad? A combination of what my brother and I were like as kids, the stories I heard about my husband and his twin when they were kids, and how I imagined my own twin sons acting when they reached eleven years old.
**Do you have experience living or working on a farm? Any funny stories related to that? Everyone on both sides of my family are farmers, doing a combination of growing wheat and raising cattle. Our house was in town, but we spent most of our time, especially in the summer, on tractors, combines, wheat trucks, in pick-ups, and working cattle. The only funny story I can think of about me is helping my dad, mom, and brother one morning feeding and counting the cows. The cattle all came into the lots except one, and my dad told me to hurry and open the gate to let her in before the other cows could get out. As I pulled the gate open and trotted backward, I tripped over a concrete block used to hold the gate in place, and got hung up in the chain. I was stuck at such a weird angle I couldn't get myself loose and all the cattle were rushing at me to get out. I was kicking and waving all over the place trying to keep them back, but my family thought I was panicking because I was stuck. They still give me grief over that one.
**Brad and Charlie have a quirky younger sister who sometimes drives them crazy. Do you relate? I have a younger brother who used to drive me nuts all the time, but we were also the best playmates because we are so close in age. I have friends who were the "younger sister" and I remember them getting yelled at by their older siblings all the time.
**Brad and Charlie stay at their grandparents for an annual summer vacation. What's your favorite place to vacation and why? Honestly, I don't really have a "favorite" place to vacation. We didn't have the opportunity to travel much when I was a kid, so ANY vacation is awesome to me. I love to travel, eat different foods, take in the scenery, watch the people. It's all new and exciting to me.
**As a writing mom, how do you juggle the demands of your kids and your career? With great difficulty. I have a wonderful and supportive husband who gives me time in the evenings and on weekends to write. Usually if anything suffers between my writing and taking care of the kids, it's our house. I'm more of a relaxed housekeeper (fancy title for slob), and I only move on the housework if there are no clean clothes, we have to order out because there is no room to cook in the kitchen, and if I walk across the floors and they crunch.

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AUTHOR BIO D.C. Stewart grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, and spent most of her childhood getting into trouble with her younger brother on their ranch. She began writing short stories in high school, and won a writing competition at a nearby college at age 17. After graduating, she attended Northwestern Oklahoma State University and earned a degree in History, and also met her husband, Scott. She worked for a church in Maumelle, Arkansas as the Communications Coordinator for five years. After moving back to Oklahoma, she chose to stay home with their four year old twin boys, and six month old baby girl, and to pursue her dream of being a full-time writer. The Stewart’s live in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Where Would Cows Hide? is her first novel.
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Title: WHERE WOULD COWS HIDE?
Author: D. C. Stewart
Publisher: Tweener Press Adventure Series
May 2008
ISBN: 978-0-9787316-7-0
Genre: Inspirational/youth/adventure

Brad and Charlie Parker are less than excited when their parents announce a change in vacation plans. The twins start voicing all kinds of objections before they even found out what the plans were. When they discover that their parents are going to Hawaii with out them and leaving them with their grandparents for three weeks, their dismay turns to excitement. If only their annoying little sister, Zoey, didn’t have to go along.

When Brad and Charlie arrive at their grandparents’ ranch, they discover that someone has been cattle rustling, and they are missing three prize bulls. The twins are convinced that they can catch the rustlers, but their grandfather is stern and won’t even consider letting them try.

When the boys overhear strangers talking in the barn, they know they’ve stumbled upon the rustlers. But who are they? And how can they solve this mystery when they are thoroughly confused.

WHERE WOULD COWS HIDE? is a real cute story geared toward boys ages 8-12. My son would have loved this book when he was a tweener. Girls will enjoy this story too, but the focus is more toward boys. The setting and the mystery are both attention grabbing and it held my interest to the end of the book even though I figured out who the rustlers were right away.

The writing is not perfect. Point of view isn’t consistent, and sometimes it changes in the middle of a sentence. Brad and Charlie are all-boy, nothing sissy about them at all. I enjoyed reading this story, and know that boys (and girls) will appreciate WHERE WOULD COWS HIDE? for their summer reading. Available at www.bakertrittinpress.com or at http://astore.amazon.com/whwocohi-20
. $10.95. 192 pages.