three for horse-lovin’ girls

I admit it. I never was one of those girls who went crazy for horses.

I did have a couple of girlfriends whose bedrooms were papered with horse posters, who dreamed and talked incessantly of hanging out at the stables. Me, I was a dog gal. However, I realize that the horse-magic runs deep with some of your lovelies and today’s books are tailor-made for them.

I Wanna Be a Cowgirl, written by Angela DiTerlizzi, illustrated by Elizabet Vukovic
published in 2017 by Beach Lane Books

The cheer and zest you see on that great cover image blooms throughout this charmer.

With rhythmic, rhyming text — the better to gallop by — we breeze through a day with this optimistic, imaginative girl who longs with all her heart to live on a ranch of her own and ride the range on her trusty steed.

Dutch artist Elizabet Vukovic’s illustrations match that happy, lilting air with their exuberance and summer joy, blasts of cherry juicing up every page. Sheer happiness for ages 2 and up.

If I Had a Horse, written and illustrated by Gianna Marino
published in 2018, a Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press

This book blew me away with its gorgeous, lush, color-rich artwork that begins on the cover and streams through every page.

Quiet thoughts, daydreamy ideas about just how it would be to have a horse of her own, how they would learn to trust one another, the marvelous places they would ride together, wend their way through this spare text.

Meanwhile every page is a showstopper of brilliant gouache colors bleeding and blending together, of wild, free silhouettes of girl and horse moving across expansive, dazzling landscapes of light. A small stunner for ages 2 and up.

The Horse’s Haiku, written by Michael J. Rosen, illustrated by Stan Fellows
published in 2018 by Candlewick

In more than thirty, graceful haiku poems, Michael Rosen leads us through mountain meadows and barnyards, through summer and winter, contemplating wobbly foals and patient mares, reveling in their grandeur and gentility, capturing the trust and deep connection between people and their horses.

His elegant lines are accompanied by lovely paintings that breathe out beauty, wildness, calm, strength, and affection. For true horse lovers, this small volume will, I believe, express everything you feel but have a hard time articulating. Ages 6 though adult.