Next book

ECHO

TRUE TALES FROM THE HORSE SHOW WORLD

In this YA novel, a teenage equestrienne tries to rehabilitate an unpredictable horse while dealing with his greedy owner and show-ring politics.
Echo is a beautiful bay warmblood colt born in Germany and brought to America by rich, flamboyant trainer Darla Davidson in hopes of making a big profit by selling him to her wealthiest riding student, Tracy Milton. Darla’s penny-pinching indirectly leads to Echo’s being injured in transit, but this isn’t immediately discovered. Elizabeth “Lizzie” Tuttle, 14, helps out at Haversham Farm, her mother’s horse barn, and works part-time at Darla’s much fancier Bristol Acres. An aspiring equestrienne competitor, Lizzie this year hopes to finish in the top ten in the medals finals. Spoiled rich-girl Tracy, Lizzie’s rival, is at first excited about riding Echo, but he soon earns black marks for dangerous behavior. Thanks to Haversham Farm’s good reputation for rehabilitating horses, Lizzie gets the task of reconditioning Echo (with input from horse professionals). A proper diagnosis and careful physicking, training and affection do much to improve the colt—but when Darla’s greed takes over, Echo’s future is in doubt. In her debut novel, Haversham displays her insider knowledge of the competitive, often unsavory world of equestrian competition. (Tenderhearted readers may find a few passages upsetting, but they reflect reality.) Though not every term is defined (for example, “warmblood”), the technicalities are easy to follow. In the young-person–and-horse genre, the standard narrative is that love and patience overcome all difficulties, and Haversham—though at first seeming to enter fully into this cliché—complicates the ending more realistically, perhaps because Echo is based on a real-life horse. On the downside, Haversham’s characters are overly broad: Darla and Tracy are over-the-top caricatures of the spoiled rich, and the Tuttles simply have no faults; they are poor but happy, humble and hardworking, yet they know how to have fun. More subtlety would help, as would an edit to fix some substandard usage.

Somewhat clichéd but also offers a sober look at the horse world’s dark side while appreciating the beautiful bonds that can arise between horse and trainer.

Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2014

ISBN: 978-1497307216

Page Count: 336

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2014

Categories:
Next book

CARPENTER'S HELPER

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Next book

LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S SPRINGTIME

From the Little Blue Truck series

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.

Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.

This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)

Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0

Page Count: 16

Publisher: HMH Books

Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018

Close Quickview