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Horse Crazy: The Silver Horse Switch. Book 1, by Alison Lester; illustrated by Roland Harvey, Chronicle Books, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-8118-6554-8 Originally published in Australia as The Shadow Brumby in 2007. -- Book retailer supplied review copy


The first thought that came to mind after I finished this book was "what a jolly little series!" Jolly as in 1 a (1) : full of high spirits : joyous (2) : given to conviviality : jovial b : expressing, suggesting, or inspiring gaiety : cheerful
2 : extremely pleasant or agreeable : splendid
synonyms see merry

Two friends, Bonnie and Samantha, love horses. They know all the horses in Currawong Creek. It is their familiarity with the different personalities and manners of these horses that help them figure out that the horse Sam's father uses for his police work has traded places with another brumby mare that is the same color and size. The girls work with the new horse to train it for the job so Sam's father will not detect the switch.

Roland Harvey's watercolor and ink illustrations take this story to the next level. Countless tiny, humorous details of life in Currawong Creek are depicted and invite the reader to study the pages closely, shades of "Where's Waldo." The characters and horses are expressive and full of life. The illustrations will beautiflly support emerging readers who are just beginning to read with fluency and discovering the pleasures of "chapter books."

Alison Lester has provided a little glossary of Australian terms so 'yanks' will understand expressions like "double-dinking" and "brumby" -- although the context of the story and the pictures make clear what the expressions mean.

A very 'jolly' little series to be sure!

The Truth about Horses, Friends, & My Life as a Coward by Sarah P. Gibson, illustrations by Glin Dibley, Marshall Cavendish, 2008 -- publisher supplied review copy

This is the kind of book I want to link arms with and go walk around the mall with while we text people we know.

Sophie's family owns three horses. Sophie does not like horses. Sophie fears horses (with good reason) yet cannot escape them.

They do not know much about horses when they begin, inadvertently, to collect them. Her mother and sister are horse romantics but Sophie has learned the hard way that horses are dangerous. A loner, she is reluctant to use the horses as "friend bait." In fact, she uses them as a wedge against the disappointment that woud-be friends are only interested in her because of her horses. Sophie is wary of people and the horses.

Horse lovers should appreciate this realistic look at what it is like to have horses in your life. This is not King of the Wind. There is no "Marguerite Henry" glow to these equines. These horses have matted manes and hang out near manure piles. Really is a (really) mean pony who bites everyone, Sweetheart is a swayback Arabian who craftily sheds her riders against tree branches and Fancy Free is a horse-and-a-half in size but missing some major horse sense. Each horse has a lesson to teach Sophie though.

As a mother and a teacher, I've seen it. Second semester, fourth grade, the hormones kick in and the social re-ordering begins. Friendships are broken and new alliances are formed when small groups at recess morph into cliques that are open to some while others are excluded. Just finding a group to sit with at lunch time is an emotionally charged experience in junior high. Sophie has lived this which is why her comment, "I never had a best friend until Melissa Maloney moved in up the street " hits with poignancy and hope. Readers from grades 4-8 will identify.

While all that sounds very serious, the Gibson's humor is very sly, very clever, very witty and causes so many audible chuckles, snorts and guffaws that family members will look at you expectantly as you read, hoping you will share. The story unfolds in a series of vignettes with titles like, "How Not to Buy a Pony or Danger in a Small Package."

I love this book.
I think it is time to cruise by the pretzel place now and then we'll go check out the earrings at The Icing and Claire's.

The entniece and entnephew came to visit our entwood recently. The entniece is a third grader (it was so nice to have a little girl in the house again) and she soon discovered Entling no.1's old Breyer horses which were packed away in a closet. A corral was erected on the floor of her bedroom and horses jumped and galloped across the carpet.

I handed the entniece Laura Chester's new horse books which I had received from Raab Associates to review.



Heartbeat for Horses, edited by Laura Chester, photographs by Donna DeMari, Willow Creek Press, 2008.

The cover photograph evokes the love for horses that flows through this book. Poems, essays and selections from classic horselore, including James Herriot, Black Beauty, King of the Wind, and, Will James's Smoky the Cowhorse (just to name a few) will thrill horse-loving girls and inspire others. If a young reader has not already found National Velvet, the except in this anthology will send her out to find it.

Donna DeMari's photographs are rich and romantic visions of horses and girls. DeMari is a fashion photographer whose work is featured in magazines like Marie Claire. Young equestrian jumpers, a girl jockey, rodeo riders and the Escaramuza Flor de Primavera riding group of Tucson are shown in action, as are girls working in the stable and nose to nose with their horses.

This would be a perfect gift for a young horse lover.

Chester writes of her own life long love of horses and the special horses in her life. She remembers her childhood collection of horses which reminded me of my own. My brothers collected Matchbox cars, I collected ceramic animals and lots of little horses.




Hiding Glory by Laura Chester; illustrated by Gary A. Lippincott, Willow Creek Press, 2007
Marvel the Marvelous by Laura Chester;Willow Creek Press, 2008

Chester's novels Marvel the Marvelous and Hiding Glory are set in an fantasy world of Joya. Shades of "My Little Pony," the stories might very well be Chester's memories of playing with her own toy horses.

Watching the entniece gallop and jump the Breyer horses through their paces, was a strong reminder to me of the power a child's imagination and the importance of that play.