Winterfrost

An ordinary Danish Christmas turns extraordinary when a family overlooks an important folkloric tradition.

Christmas has come, and with it a sparkling white winterfrost over the countryside. But twelve-year-old Bettina's parents have been called away unexpectedly, leaving her in charge of the house, the farm, and baby Pia. In all the confusion, Bettina's family neglects to set out the traditional bowl of Christmas rice pudding for the tiny nisse who are rumored to look after the family and their livestock. No one besides her grandfather ever believed the nisse were real, so what harm could there be in forgetting this silly custom? But when baby Pia disappears during a nap, the magic of the nisse makes itself known. To find her sister and set things right, Bettina must venture into the miniature world of these usually helpful, but sometimes mischievous folk. A delightful winter adventure for lovers of the legendary and miraculous.

About the Author

Michelle Houts lives on a family farm in West Central Ohio with her three children, the farmer of her dreams, some cattle, a few hogs, a whole lot of barn cats, a few goats and a Great Pyrenees named Hercules. The Beef Princess of Practical County, 2009, was her first novel for middle grade readers. It won a 2010 International Reading Association Children's Book Award and the 2011 Nebraska Farm Bureau Agricultural Book of the Year for grades 4 and 5.

The Practical County Drama Queen, the much-anticipated follow-up to The Beef Princess, was released in the spring of 2014. Winterfrost, a Christmas tale for all ages, was released September 9, 2014 by Candlewick Press. It is Michelle's first Junior Library Guild selection.

Michelle's first nonfiction title is Kammie on First: Baseball's Dottie Kamenshek. It is the biography of one the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League's best players. A ten-year first baseman for the Rockford Peaches, Dottie Kamenshek wowed the crowds with her athleticism. Dottie helped inspire Geena Davis's character, Dottie Hinson, in the movie "A League of Their Own."