My Pony
Susan Jeffers, author and illustrator
2003, Hyperion Books for Children
I want a pony. I want a pony more than anything else in the world.
A little girl wants a pony; her parents tell her they can't get her one, and she dreams every night of a dapple gray mare who comes and takes her for magical rides.
A very simple picture book showing the power of the horseless child's passionate desire, constant fantasy and total belief. Gorgeous.
About the author
1942-
Other books (author/illustrator)
All The Pretty Horses
My Chincoteague Pony
Other books (illustrator)
Black Beauty - Sharon Lerner adaptation
Dogs
The McDuff series
Lassie Come Home - with Rosemary Wells
Links
Through The Magic Door website - section about Jeffers
Link - audio
Teachers for a New Era - UConn: Interview with Susan Jeffers
* Jeffers' Caldecott-winning book was based on an old children's rhyme and not, as I first thought, on an even older song which was the source of another book titled Three Jovial Huntsmen. This second, older book was illustrated by Randolph Caldecott, the 19th century English illustrator of children's books who the American awards are named after. The huntsmen in Caldecott's version are foxhunters; the ones in Jeffers' are portly guys on foot.
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4 comments:
What a great blog! I just found it this morning while looking for information on Alice O'Connell.
I have a few horse books by Ruby Ferguson, an English horse-writing author, which I'd love to see reviewed here.
Also, English author Diana Pullein-Thompson.
Thanks for your reviews!
Marcia
Thank you for the kind words! I haven't reviewed many English books, largely because there are already people and blogs doing such a lovely job of it already, but I'll mix in some more in the future.
I always have multiple windows up on Firefox, so I can come back later and read whatever it is I just found. I'm keeping your blog up, reading one post a day. I love horse books and grew up (in South Florida) loving Walter Farley's Black Stallion series. Dog books too (collies in Albert Payson Terhune's volumes and Irish setters in Jim Kjelgaard's).
Do you have horses? We live in Virginia, not exactly in horse country but close, and my 17-year-old daughter and I share a love of horses that bonds us like glue, although she's not a horse reader like me.
Thanks for the reviews!
Hi,
I'm glad you're enjoying the blog! I have another one about dog books, Hounds In Print, at http://houndsinprint.blogspot.com/ which I am much worse about updating. I also loved Terhune and his collies, and Kjelgaard's setters. No horses yet. My horse time is confined to books and sessions at a riding school, where I can never decide which is better, riding or grooming.
Since you're in Virginia, I assume this crazy snow has hit you hard. If you've read the blog recently, you'll see I've been muttering about the snowpocalpse, but we're a little better equipped to cope with this in NJ than poor Virginia. Hope you're okay!
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