The Day Reba Went Missing

Some mornings, everything is exactly where it belongs. And then a gate is left open.

At the 5 Daughters Ranch in East Texas, eleven-year-old Emma knows the most important rule by heart: latch the gate tight, every time. Reba, the family's gentle black show heifer, is clever enough to nose open any latch that is not seated just right, and Emma is the one who always checks. But on a busy Saturday full of family, chores, and a barefoot little sister who will not hold still, a gate gets left almost closed. And Reba is gone.

What follows is one long, hard day. The whole family fans out across the ranch, reading hoofprints, following a wrong trail, and racing a Texas storm rolling in from the west. The whole time, Emma carries a cold worry: the fear that the open gate may have been her own doing. It will take the sharp eyes of the smallest child on the ranch, and some hard-won wisdom from Nana, to bring Reba home and to teach Emma what to do with a mistake.

The Day Reba Went Missing is Book 1 of the 5 Daughters Ranch Series, a collection of warm, faith-rooted chapter books drawn from a real Texas ranch and the real children and animals who live there. Written for readers ages 8 to 11, it is a tender and suspenseful story about responsibility, perseverance, and the kind of family that searches together and never gives up. Along the way, young readers learn that everyone makes mistakes, that worry is only love looking for a job, and that latching the gate is one of the quiet, daily ways a family shows its love.

The book includes a Guide for Teachers and Families, with discussion questions, vocabulary, and a hands-on activity for the classroom, homeschool, or bedtime reading.