Suzanne Mogan Williams

Title: Bull Rider

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry

Books Publication Date: February 24, 2009

ISBN: 978-1416961307

Middle Grade – 10 to 14

Authors Website: www.suzannemorganwilliams.com

Bull Rider is a Junior Library Guild Selection for 2009.

Description: In the ranch country of northern Nevada, generations of O’Mara men are known for their toughness and bull riding talent. All except Cam, who prefers the rumble of skateboard wheels on asphalt to the dust and blood of the rodeo arena. But then Cam’s older brother returns from Iraq seriously wounded, and coming home just reminds him of the silver belt buckles he’ll never win and wild bulls he’ll never ride. The O’Maras go on, because that’s what ranch families do, but they feel cheated out of the future they’ve always banked on, until Cam turns bull rider and shows his family a way past what they’ve lost. 



About the Author: Suzanne Morgan Williams lives in Nevada, near the site of fictional Salt Lick with her husband, two goats, a cat, and a very large laid back dog. Besides Bull Rider, which is her first novel, she has published numerous nonfiction books for kids aged ten to fourteen – with a specialty of writing about multicultural topics and working with native people. Her fiction and nonfiction projects have taken her to bull rings, veterans hospitals, the Canadian Arctic, southern China and more. She is a former teacher and speaks often at schools, libraries, museums and to professional groups.

Excerpt: Chapter One: Folks in Salt Lick say I couldn’t shake bull riding if I tried. It’s in my blood, my family. Around here, any guy named Cam O’Mara should be a bull rider. But if you’ve ever looked a sixteen hundred pound bucking bull named Ugly in the eye and thought about holding onto his back with a stiff rawhide handle, some pine tar, and a prayer, well, you’d know why I favored skate boarding. My Grandpa Roy, my dad, my brother, Ben, they could all go as crazy as they liked, sticking eight seconds on a bull for the adrenaline rush and maybe a silver buckle. But me, I’d take my falls on the asphalt. I’d master something that I could roll under my bed when I was done with it. Or so I thought.

 It was June and my big brother Ben was home on leave from the Marines. He started in on me about the skateboarding. “Cam, I’m gonna break that thing and then you’ll have time for something really extreme.” Ben’s five years older than me, which is enough difference to mean he didn’t beat on me the way some older brother do, but he wouldn’t leave me alone either.

“When are you gonna stop being some wannabe skater punk and do rodeo?”

“About when your head pops off and rolls down the street like a soccer ball.” I jumped toward him like I was going to knock his head across our room with my knee. He faked right and punched me in the stomach. I smashed into him with my shoulder and we both fell on the floor to wrestle. It took Ben about four seconds to pin me and press my face into the rug. I spit wool hairs out of my mouth.

“Give? Give? Skater wimp?”

I never give, and he knew it, so he held me down until he was tired of it, and then he slapped me on the back and let go. “You coming in early with me to the rodeo?” he asked.

 “Sure,” I said, getting up and trying not to favor the shoulder he’d had a lock on. It was weird to have Ben home again. I’m not saying it was bad, it was good. It’s just his hair was buzzed from being in the Marines and without his cowboy hat, he seemed stiff and different. Maybe the year overseas had changed him. But when he pulled the hat on, well, there he was, my brother Ben again.

Reviews: This first novel makes the sports details of skateboarding and bull-riding part of the powerful contemporary story of family, community, and work –Booklist

The book isn’t overtly anti- or pro-war so much as pro the people who are struggling with this difficult change in their lives. This is therefore a gripping read for fans of family dramas, and it’s certainly high time that this aspect of the war’s consequences received a sensitive and compelling exploration. - The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Bull Rider, vividly captures life on a modern Nevada ranch. . . .(it) is the story of real people, in real situations, that will ring true even if readers have never seen a salt lick, a chute, or the open range. - Ellen Fockler, library coordinator, Washoe County School District, Reno, NV

Suzanne Morgan Williams’ spare, straightforward prose lets the O’Maras speak their piece on war and sacrifice, family loyalty and courage, and reveals what it means to live in the heart of the modern West. – Terri Farley, author of the Phantom Stalllion series

Grandma Jean’s Quesadillas and Tomatillo Salsa

Author Photo: Zinser Photography