Book Review: The Eighty-Dollar Champion

I was lucky enough to win an ARC of the book below over on LibraryThing courtesy of the Early Reviewer's group. I've collected a number of titles this way - it's a fun program, if you're interested in getting your hands on new titles before or just as they're published. But sometimes it's a mixed blessing - even when I'm careful to request only those books that look appealing, sometimes there's a real dud in the bunch. Not this time, thankfully!

The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse that Inspired a Nation by Elizabeth Letts

ARC reviewed.

I grew up on Walter Farley and C.M Montgomery's horse stories, reading about throwing your heart over the fence so your horse would follow; about the look of eagles. In Snowman's story, I found a return to that feeling.

A true rescue, purchased for $80 off the back of a kill buyer's truck, Snowman found a home with an immigrant Dutchman and his family. Over the next several years the big white horse and his adopted family leaped to heights and fame, stealing the hearts of an American public ripe for a humble hero of the people. For horseman Henry de Leyer, dubbed the "Flying Dutchman" by the press, the big dirty grey horse dubbed Snowman by the de Leyer children would provide the chance to live out a dream. In return, his jumping days past, the gelding was allowed to live out his life in comfort - a far cry from the violent end he was bound for so many years before.

In spite of the typos (ARC copy), this is a charming, heartwarming story only occasionally rendered pedantic by the shoehorning in of some relevant but slightly distracting block of big-picture history. If you're a horse-lover, or know one, this rags-to-riches story of the small-town horse and his family making good on the national stage is a lovely one.


Published by Ballantine Books, it will be available on August 23rd, 2011.

It's not a Friday, but it's a Book Review

I haven't read a horse-related book in a while (although if you need some YA recommendations, I have a new batch of those...), but someone recommended this one to me and it sounded intriguing.

Actually, what I heard - although in hindsight, I don't think it's what the recommender said - was that this is a true story. While it seems fairly probable that some of the events, particularly the racetrack-related bits, may be based on events that may have happened somewhere to someone, 12 Miles to Paradise is definitely NOT non-fiction. Still...

12 Miles to Paradise: a people story about horses & horseracing by Ted Simendinger

Briefly, this is the story of a race horse that refused to run and what happened next. And it's what happens next, both to a not very fast, but very stubborn Whodathunkit, that kept me turning pages.

Like Ferdinand the bull, who only wanted to smell the flowers and ended up affecting far more lives than he knew, a grey gelding re-dubbed Bonefish changes the course of events for the residents of one whole island and several more people on two different continents.

The premise is absurd, the action is flatly unbelievable... and yet there's a ring to the events surrounding Bonefish particularly that shines 24 carat. (My own family has tales of the backstretch that at first hearing are as oddly unlikely, so who am I to cast doubt.)

In spite of the somewhat rough and ready delivery and a choppy narration (peppered with numerous trivial details and off plot meanderings), it's oddly charming and pleasantly memorable.

Simendinger is a motivational speaker who's written one other book (humorous short stories about people & animals, based on the description). He doesn't claim horse-expertise, and his bio makes no reference to horses at all, so if there are a few gaffs perhaps it's not surprising. Is this the best horse book I've ever read? No. But it's entertaining in an offbeat, oddball way.

My recommendation: don't run right out and buy a copy, but if you happen across it at your local library or swap-shop, give it a chance. You may find yourself smiling.

Not-a-Friday Book Review

What with my weird work schedule and all the driving back and forth, I've sort of lost track of Friday book reviews. Too, I really hadn't read anything horse-related enough to qualify. But one of the to-be-reviewed books on my plate for next year's YARP list qualifies. And thankfully, although I had a few initial doubts, I can actually recommend this one. Maybe not for older teens, but for horse-crazy pre-teens? It wouldn't be a bad stocking stuffer.

Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan

Orphaned early, Maya is one of those poor little rich girls who have almost everything they need except love. Only childhood pictures of her father are permitted. All Maya has left of her mother is a box full of plastic horses and one photo rescued from her grandmother's effort to destroy all traces of her mother and father's life together. But when a stroke claims her grandmother, Maya discovers her mother's family not only isn't a batch of illiterate pig farmers, but actually wants her. In Wyoming she has aunts, uncles, and even a cousin - and there are horses!

Rather better than I expected after a slightly sappy opening. The parts featuring Maya are very readable. The parts featuring Artemisia (the mare) are a bit over the top. The behavior described may be horse behavior, but it's too anthropomorphic for my taste - might be right up the alley of a ten-year-old, though. And Maya's ultimately a likeable, understandable young heroine.

On a one to ten scale? I'd probably give it a 6 or so. It wouldn't stand up to the challenge of Firehorse, Serilda's Star, or the Bonnie books by Pat Johnson, but horse-crazy kids devour pretty much anything featuring a high mane & hoof quotient, and this one will fill the something-new bill nicely.

The Friday Book Review (returns) - a psychic connection

No, not with the horses. Sorry, if that's what you were hoping for! Maybe another time. :)

Morning Light by Catherine Anderson

Clairvoyant Loni MacEwen is looking for a bit of peace and quiet when she buys an old house in Crystal Falls, Oregon to be closer to her sister. A bad experience has left her shaken and questioning her talent. But the small town seems like just what the doctor ordered. Since childhood Loni has had visions of a handsome cowboy, but although her gift has otherwise been fairly accurate, the man has never materialized - until Crystal Falls, when she bumps into him (literally) in the supermarket.

Quarter horse breeder Clint Harrigan is a no-nonsense, straight shooting kind of guy. So when the pretty brunette from the supermarket appears on his doorstep to inform him that his young son has been lost in the wilderness and only he will be able to save the boy, he's nothing if not skeptical.

A fairly brief lead-in has the pair heading off to participate in search and rescue operations for an orphaned boy lost in the Oregon wilderness. Expecting nothing horse-related when I picked the book up, I was pleasantly surprise to find myself reading what appears to be a fairly well-researched amount of information on horse-packing.

The horses have eminintly impractical names (at least I wouldn't want to be hollering them in!), but the actual details of practical care and handling are well-written and realistic.

Neatnik, environmentally conscious Loni's interactions with practical-minded, bachelor Clint are entertaining, and the story has enough suspense to it to keep the pages turning. All in all, this was a pleasant surprise.

I wasn't expecting this to be my book of the week - in fact, I haven't been reading much at all lately as busy as everything has been. But since there were horses and I actually managed to finish it....

Hopefully life will dial back a bit soon and I'll have more time to get some pages turned without feeling like I'm neglecting something or someone!

Friday Book Review: happy memories

How many of us as little girls poured over horse books? I know I did. Sitting in the book-lined living room last night exchanging stories and news with my folks, I was pleased to see a few old childhood friends still had their places. I pulled one out to leaf through, and ended up spending an hour or so last night catching up. I even found the beginnings of a school report on Clydesdales tucked between the pages - sadly, my handwriting hasn't improved since what I'm guessing was 3rd grade!

Album of Horses by Marguerite Henry (Illustrated by Wesley Dennis)

There are plenty of horse encyclopedias out there with beautiful pictures that will inform you in somewhat sterile prose about the horse breed of your choice. This isn't an encyclopedia. Nor is it exhaustive, but it has a charm all its own. Each of the 24 equine types represented is given roughly four pages of space. From exotic Arabians and sturdy Morgans, wiry polo ponies and massive Clydesdales, to the lowly burros and recalcitrant mules, Henry treats each with reverence and sometimes humor. And better still, with story. The American Saddle Horse (five gaited horses - anyone know, is this still what they're called, or are they now Saddlebreds?) is a real tear-jerker.

And the illustrations! Henry opted, instead of photos, to decorate her text with lovely full color, full page renderings by Wesley Dennis. Whether head shots or action, they're a huge part of what makes the book so memorable. And the charming little pencil drawings scattered about each page's margins are entertainment of themselves. You can almost picture Dennis browsing through Henry's manuscript, sketching in trotters and foxes and buffalo as the urge struck him. At least that's how I see like to envision it.

It may not be encyclopedic, but it's still a marvelous window to the horse world - and to the past. I'm not sure that Suffolk Punches still dot the hills of Suffolk County, or that teams of Clydesdales are still commonly seen pulling heavy loads in the Midwest and on the plains of Canada, but some of the equine varieties featured are certainly still going strong, and they all have their own proponents. Now if only everyone would still treat their horses with such care, and select their breeding partners so meticulously! as Henry credits the Arab chieftains with doing.

I spent many an hour as a kid with Henry's books - not just this one. Curled up with Misty of Chincoteague, or Brighty of the Grand Canyon - racing with King of the Wind - it was good to find it still here on the shelf, and to know that my uncle likely enjoyed it just as much when he was young - it's enscribed to him as a gift, Christmas of 1959.