Ted Lewin and Emily Arnold McCully lead in horsey picture book charm National Parents Center

Ted Lewin and Emily Arnold McCully lead in horsey picture book charm

January 30, 2011 – 9:27 pm

I’m always surprised at how much children love horses, even if they’ve never met one. These five new picture books aren’t the real thing, but can lift a child close.

Stable

Ted Lewin

Step into Kensington Stables, in the heart of Brooklyn, N.Y., and be transported back to a time when horses did just about everything. They carried people to the beach and they pulled steam fire engines. Then they disappeared except for a remnant, but you can still visit the stable for a pony ride or watch a farrier at work.

The opening scenes are illustrated in sepia tones, with color added gradually as time clip-clops on.

I love the thumbnail paintings (at the end) of the 37 horses that currently live at Kensington. A nonfiction gem, filled with good history and child appeal. Grade A

Wonder Horse

Emily Arnold McCully

Jim was certainly not a typical horse. Reportedly, he could read, write, count and spell.
His owner, Bill “Doc” Key had a unique way with animals and became a veterinarian after the Emancipation Proclamation set him free. Doc trained Jim with kindness and patience at a time when most people used whips. Jim and Doc traveled the country for nine years in a custom railroad car to show and tell audiences the “True Story of the World’s Smartest Horse.”

The inspiring story accompanied by lush and lovely watercolors teaches an important lesson about treating animals with dignity and respect. Grade: A

Everything but the Horse

Holly Hobbie

Holly and her family lived in a busy city neighborhood. She loved her home.

Then, “clear out of the blue,” her parents bought an old farm. Holly worried about wild cats, no electricity and an outhouse. But there were plenty of chickens, a dog named Buster, Clark the pig and a cow called Tinkerbelle. There was everything but the horse that Holly wanted more than anything in the world. Her birthday is coming — oh, please!

An engaging story, nostalgic watercolors, and a nifty surprise at the end will win the hearts of horse lovers everywhere. Grade: B +

Hush, Little Horsie

Jane Yolen & Ruth Sanderson

For younger horse lovers, Yolen pens a simple lullaby with a gentle rhyming text that tells of mares from around the world protecting their babies.

The settings range from seashore to moor, and barnyard to plains. The final spread shows a human mother and child hugging her favorite stuffed horse as they read in bed. The comforting message: Mommy will shelter and watch over you during the night as you sleep.

Sanderson contributes lush and detailed paintings with horses beautiful enough for the most avid fan. A testimony to the enduring bond between mother and child. Grade: B

Pony Island

Candice F. Ransom & Wade Zahares

Legend has it that long-ago Spanish shipwrecks marooned wild ponies on Assateague, a barrier island off the coast of Maryland and Virginia. Then again, pirates might have left behind their horses as they rowed off to search for bounty.

No matter how their ancestors arrived, each July the ponies are rounded up by saltwater cowboys for Pony Penning and Fireman’s Carnival on nearby Chincoteague Island. Staccato rhyming verse briefly but incompletely tells the story.

The stylized paintings are a tad too abstract and the color a bit too garish, but capably executed. Stick with “Misty of Chincoteague” as a read-aloud. Grade: C

Kathy Englehart is a critic and librarian at Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

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