Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6-Twenty original poems that reflect the thoughts of young horse lovers. Using rhyme, free verse, and a variety of meters and forms, the selections describe the horses, the joys of riding, and the almost mystical relationship between horse and rider. Full-and double-page watercolor illustrations, enhanced with charcoal-pencil lines, show the movements and grace of the animals and depict youngsters and equines in a variety of settings. Libraries owning Lee Bennett Hopkins’s collection, My Mane Catches the Wind (Harcourt, 1979, o.p.), or Patricia Hubbell’s A Grass Green Gallop (Atheneum, 1990) may not need Springer’s title, but where books on the subject are in demand, it should prove a popular addition.
Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Attractively laid out in picture book format with lively, realistic watercolors of horses in action, 20 poems with a pleasing diversity of settings and horse personalities. As a poet, Springer isn’t outstanding; her language can be prosaic, and the insights here aren’t deep. However, she does understand horses’ quirks and their appeal to the imagination very well, while her decision to use young riders’ voices for her character sketches and portraits is a good one. Like the horses, these children have varied experiences, from a girl who communes with nature and her own spirit on country rides to one who recognizes fear in the eyes of a horse that’s just kicked her; from a withdrawn loner whose mount helps him to be “proud to be me” to a child of the plains glorying in his Appaloosa’s “wild white eyes.” Of sure appeal to enthusiasts. Index. (Poetry. 8-12) — Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
