Book excerpt: Ranch Girl: Coming of Age on the King Ranches in Brazil tells the story of a girl and her family’s eventful lives on three ranches in Brazil against the backdrop of a foreign culture and austere living conditions. The closest phone for the family was often an hour away, and there was no electricity for long stretches. Eventually a TV was purchased so that the family could watch the limited (one channel, four hours a day) programming, in case they were bored. But life on the King Ranches was rarely boring for Betinha Schultz. From her earliest memories to the recollections of a fourteen-year-old about to be sent off to boarding school, Betinha recounts the challenges and trials, the richness and beauty, and the sometimes hard but always good life lessons she learned while growing up on the King Ranches in Brazil.