If you're anything like me, you're concerned about what your children or grandchildren are allowing into their hearts and minds through the books they read. I don't claim to be an expert on all books, but I have significant experience with horses and children's horse books and have reviewed many of them on this site. My reviews may help you weed out a few undesirable ones. See my review checkpoints at the bottom of this article.
Click any title below to read my full review of that book. Note that these would all be labeled with ** spoiler alerts **. I won't review a book unless I've read it first. And what better way to present the truth of what's in a book than to quote from it - which I do in all these reviews. Some of the glowing reviews I see for these books make me doubt that the reviewers actually read them.
Black Beauty - My overall favorite horse book. It was not written for children, and I don't recommend it for young ones as some parts are very sad.
Misty of Chincoteague - This book is loosely based on the real island ponies, and except for a few quibbles, I like it.
The Black Stallion - Not as bad as it could be, but so far-fetched it was hard for me to like as an adult.
My Friend Flicka- A disturbing book that I wouldn't have read as an adult, except for doing this review. Not recommended for children in my opinion.
National Velvet - I find this book appalling and can't believe anyone recommends it as a children's book.
Fritz and the Beautiful Horses - My favorite horse picture book, beautiful illustrations, and a wonderful message - what you are on the outside is not nearly as important as what you are on the inside.
Five O'Clock Charlie - A big farm horse doesn't feel old and is bored when forced to retire. Charlie discovers there is something he can do.
Billy and Blaze - I loved these books as a young girl. As an adult, I find them less interesting, but they are pretty wholesome and have wonderful illustrations.
Mrs. Mack - Not horrible, but not great either. Safety issues and not much of a story line.
The Horse Diaries - What a potentially great combination - horses and historical fiction. I was quite disappointed with the reality of this series. I can't recommend the books which is unfortunate, because the illustrations are incredible.
Summer Pony, Jean Slaughter Doty - mostly factually accurate in terms of horse information and interactions, but if you're looking for an exciting story, you'll be disappointed. This one is much better than the sequel, though.
Winter Pony, This sequel to Summer Pony has accurate horse information, but a fairly nonexistent storyline, virtually absent parents, bad attitude in one of the girls, disobedience with no confession or consequences, and too much detail (for the intended age range) about the foal's delivery.
Winnie the Horse Gentler - I'm pretty certain this is the best-selling "Christian" horse series for kids, but I have no idea why! I review every book in the series with quotes from the books. It breaks all my rules. Sigh. If only my Sonrise Stable series could receive as much exposure as the Winnie books do.
Winnie the Early Years - From the same author but geared at a younger audience. Less offensive, but still not recommended.
Unfortunately, today you can't trust book jacket descriptions, Amazon reviews, publisher's marketing materials, or even Christian catalogs. The only way to monitor your child's reading material 100% is by pre-reading everything. In our homeschooling years, my three girls read so voraciously, it was difficult to stay ahead of them.
It was never my intention to post a lot of negative reviews about children's horse books! I started out searching for good, wholesome books I could sell in addition to the ones I have written. But, as I began researching and reading, I was often dismayed by the content of the books and felt obligated to warn other parents about what was in them.
Here are the standards I use for evaluating books:
Given those standards, there are very few horse books I unreservedly recommend. Even if you don't fully agree with me, the reviews should draw your attention to some red flags to look out for.
* I probably won't read books that are too similar to my Sonrise Stable series, just a conflict of interest there in many ways. Also, I don't like books that incorporate magic, so no flying, talking ponies, etc.
