The Brainstorm is back after a break for the new year. I hope your 2026 is off to a great start. As the Lunar New Year approaches, I thought it would be a good opportunity to share some horse stories. Everyone's familiar with National Velvet, Black Beauty, and those from the Queen of horse stories, Marguerite Henry's books (like Misty of Chincoteague and Justin Morgan Had a Horse). So we're venturing beyond the horse stories everyone's familiar with and sharing some maybe you haven't heard of. I'm also focusing just on realistic/historical fiction or true horse stories, and I'm saving the slightly more magical horses for another time. It appears that GoodReads is now requiring a sign-in to view reviews, so if you would like to read my full reviews for any of the titles and don't have a GoodReads account, I'm pasting those full reviews including any content notes/trigger warnings at the bottom of this post.
FULL SUMMARIES/REVIEWS
Hello, Horse by Vivian French, ill. by Catherine Rayner
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A little boy meets Catherine, a nice lady who introduces him to Shannon the horse. Catherine shows him how she cares for Shannon and then takes the little boy on his first horse ride.
A simple introduction to horses and horseback riding for kids. There are little strings of additional text on several pages telling readers about various aspects of horses and equine equipment. The illustrations are beautiful and match the calming sense to the story as the boy's nervousness about riding are allayed in meeting Shannon and learning things from Catherine. A great read for any child who is about to go horseback riding for the first time or horse lovers.
Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum by Dr. Seuss, ill. by Andrew Joyner
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Seuss gives a history of art and tour of art styles by looking at the many ways people have created artwork about horses and the various things the horses can symbolize in those pieces. The book uses famous pieces of artwork that feature horses to introduce children to symbolism in art and the main art styles.
Make sure you read the back of the book to learn more about each individual piece of art featured, as well as how they found this unpublished Seuss book. It seems that Seuss did an art history TV show and this was based on that script. I'd heard several people say they were disappointed in this book, but I'm guessing that's because it is so different from most of Seuss' other things. If you pick this up expecting an art history lesson, it's quite creative and a great way to introduce kids to famous art styles.
A Horse Named Sky by Roseann Parry, ill. by Kirbi Fagan
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sky is a wild mustang born in the Nevada Territory in 1856. We follow him and his herd as he grows, and then discover how he ends up a horse in the Pony Express.
There aren't a whole lot of books on the Pony Express around any more. This brings it to life from the horse's perspective. It was also really interesting to learn that the current location of Reno, Nevada used to be a wetlands and was dramatically changed by the silver mining in the area. It was also sobering to learn about the laws in early California that allowed people to kidnap Native peoples and make them slaves as young as 3 years old and this law wasn't repealed until several decades into the 20th century! (Make sure you read the extensive back matter to read about this and other things that are hinted at from Sky's perspective but further explained later for readers.) Parry has a decided bias to the tale, in that Sky wants to be free and chafes at life under the humans and constantly looks for a way to escape. He thinks the horses happy living with humans are delusional. So those who work with horses or ride horses may not all find this their favorite read. I did appreciate the way Parry wrote the voice and the history covered that I haven't read about anywhere else.
Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: A human shoots an attacking wild predator. One of the riders is mean, and one of the station masters has a child slave and beats him at one point. An animal is whipped and teased by humans. Two animals die.
Ethnic diversity: White men and Native Americans.
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: Child slavery. Trapping of wild animals. Mining devastates a habitat.
The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis by Elizabeth Letts
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A look at the Nazi plan for the Lipizzaners and other thoroughbred horses in Poland, Germany and Austria, and the men instrumental in keeping them safe through a war many other people and animals did not survive.
I'm always wary of these animal histories, as sometimes they can seem to go a bit overboard on either singing the praise of the animal to the point you think they can fly and talk, or the history lauds them to the point of making humans seem like pond scum. This did a great job in balancing those out. It did talk about the extraordinary training of the Lipizzaners in the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, but it does not overestimate their value to society. And the author uses the Nazi treatment of horses to point out how upside down some of their values were when horses got padded and spacious train compartments while at the same time humans were being shipped in overcrowded and horrible conditions. So the horse rights actually serve to point out how grossly skewed human rights were at the time. The author also discusses how the Nazi views on pure blood were influenced by horse breeding philosophy and vice versa. And the stories of how the horses were moved around to be kept safe are infused and often taken over (in a good way) by the stories of men who wanted to do something kind and peaceful in a time of so much violence. You meet some very interesting men from both sides in this. The Austrian leader of the Spanish Riding School, a German Czech resident, the German put in charge of horses for the Nazis, some Poles who were in charge of the major Polish thoroughbred farm, and Americans instrumental in the rescue of horses from the Russians (the Russians primarily viewed horses as a food source by this point). It was particularly amazing how the American commander in the right place at the right time to rescue one of the major groups of horses near the end of the war from the encroaching Russians was a former calvary man, huge horse lover, and close friend of Patton and knew the General was also a huge horse lover. (I learned several things about Gen. Patton from this that I'd never heard before, including his polo expertise, his olympic experience, and how he died. How is it I've read dozens of books about WWII and this is the first to include Patton's death?) The book also gives an interesting history lesson on the role of horses in war and society in general and how WWII was a drastic turning point. A fascinating history, that yes, is going to be most popular with horse lovers, but loving horses is not necessarily a precursor to reading this. It should appeal to anyone interested in history. There are some horsy and riding details, but not so many that I got lost or bored. And I'm not a horse person. Any knowledge I have of them or riding is thanks to my sister who has the equine science degree, but even my secondhand knowledge is flimsy. And yet I survived this just fine and enjoyed the read.
Notes on content: Quotes of Patton include some of his trademark "colorful" language. That's pretty much the only swearing. No sexual content. There are a few deaths on page in the war, both human and animal. The deaths are not overly graphic in description.
Poppy the Police Horse by Gavin Puckett, ill. by Tor Freeman
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Poppy may be blind, but she is a horse with an exceptional sniffer. PC Smith knows that Poppy would be a great addition to the police force. But once Poppy gets settled in her cozy new digs at the police station she doesn't want to do anything. Will the thieves get away, or will Poppy decide to put her lazy ways behind her?
It may end a teensy bit preachy, but the illustrations are quite fun. And on top of that the entire multi-chapter book is told in well done rhyme! Hand this to kids who like detective animals, and well done rhyming.
Sergeant Reckless: The True Story of the Little Horse Who Became a Hero by Patricia McCormick ill. by Iacopo Bruno
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The true story of an abandoned little horse who did mighty things for US troops in the Korean War, and was instrumental in helping them win a major victory.
It sounds like this little horse was part goat. She'd eat anything! Poker chips?! But her big appetite helped make it easy to train her and she was super instrumental in some big battles. It is an amazing and mostly humorous true animal story. McCormick keeps the gory war details minimal for kids too (a little blood shown but it is just a little and no big wounds or dead soldiers or anything like that shown). If you're looking for something about the Korean War or true animal stories, this would be a good pick. Don't miss the author's note with some more info about Reckless in the back.
