Amanda Radke and her daughter, Scarlett Radke, visited Sanborn Central last week to promote their new children’s books. Scarlett is a nine-year-old Mitchell third grader who attended preschool at Sanborn Central. She wrote and illustrated her first book, “Scarlett and Lucky,” last year, and she is now taking opportunities to promote the book and its story. Her mother, Amanda, has recently revealed her newest of nine children’s books, “The Journal of Rowdy the Cow Kid,” so she has joined her daughter in promoting her books, as well.

Amanda says that Scarlett has wanted to write her own children’s books since she was five years old. When she approached her mother about writing her own book, Amanda said to her, “Well, you know, maybe you should learn how to read and write first. [That] would be step one.” Once she mastered that skill, she was ready to start a children’s story, and Lucky provided her that story.

Lucky is a calf that was born prematurely in a snowbank and was incredibly small, weighing in at under 40 pounds. Scarlett says that’s what brought about his name. “And so, I named him Lucky because he was lucky to be alive because usually when they’re 30 pounds, they don’t even last,” stated Scarlett. From there, she started making short videos of her life with Lucky on the farm, and after they were posted on social media, the videos went viral. So, Amanda thought now would be a good time for Scarlett to write; she had a story to tell that people were interested in because people were so excited to see kids working on the farm and taking care of a cute little calf. 

…Read on and see a picture in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!