Tag Archive | horses

U is unbelievable, astounding, enlightening: LISTIFIED! Britannica’s 300 Lists That Will Blow Your Mind, by Pettie & Lozano (kids nonfiction) #A2Z

Apr24
Book title LISTIFIED! down center of book cover, with hand-drawn collections of bugs, living things, dinosaurs, bones, eggs, snowflakes, dogs wearing graduation hats, vehicles, and sea creatures to the left, and text to right: Britannica's 300 lists that will blow your mind, about all sorts of things... by Andrew Pettie

A brachiosaurus would equal the weight of how many housecats?
If Earth were the size of a cherry, how big would Saturn and Mars be?
What animals can run faster than a horse for 20 miles?

Fastest travel time around the world, surprising things that have fallen from the sky, organs that your body can survive without (and why) – if you want to know lots of things about lots of subjects, turn to Listified!

Its highly illustrated lists are grouped into chapters on
space, nature, dinosaur times, animals, the body, being human, inventions, and game changers.

Learn about the most visited monuments and buildings in the world, biggest machines ever built, important women in medical history, most unusual modern jobs, and much more.

Whether you choose a page at random or read an entire chapter, you’ll discover something new and can be absolute;u sure that it’s true because everything has been thoroughly reviewed by the Encyclopedia Britannica team.

Are you a list-maker, too?
**kmm

Book info: Listified! Britannica’s 300 Lists That Will Blow Your Mind / Andrew Pettie; illustrated by Andres Lozano. Britannica Books, 2021. [author site https://www.instagram.com/andrewjpettie/] [artist site https://www.sensgallery.com/artists/andres-lozano] [publisher site https://www.whatonearthbooks.com/us/product/listified/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

A is for AROUND THE WORLD ON 80 HORSES, by Jill Newton (nonfiction) #A2Z

Apr1
Book cover of Around the World on 80 Horses, by Jill Newton. Shows an English jumping horse with rider, black stallion, pair of Clydesdale draft horses in harness, barrel-racing horse with rider, pack horse , and prancing palomino horse, surrounding title with globe in background.

Clydesdale and Kabardian,
Shetland and Ferghana,
Appaloosa and Lipizzaner and Paso Fino – so many amazing horses!

Gallop across the globe as horses are introduced by the geographic region where they developed the particular characteristics that make each horse breed unique.

Trot into the world of horses and humans at work and in sport together through history, meeting famous real-life horses and those of legend.

Learn more about horses from nose to tail, how they evolved different sizes, colors, and temperaments, and meet their interesting relatives.

The most ardent horse fancier will find much new information in this book, where the author/illustrator challenges readers to find all 80 living breeds of horses in its pages, including those that roam free to this day.

Download the free activity pack and printable Horse Bingo game at https://childsplaybooks.myshopify.com/products/9781786288080 .

What’s your favorite fact about horses?
**kmm

Book info: Around the World on 80 Horses / Jill Newton. Child’s Play, Inc., 2024. [publisher site https://childsplaybooks.myshopify.com/products/9781786288080] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher via Publisher Spotlight.

S is for SHE’LL BE THE SKY: POEMS BY WOMEN AND GIRLS, selected by Ella Risbridger (YA / MG book review) #A2Z

Apr22
Woman with cascading hair made of plants, water, trees, on book cover of She'll Be the Sky: Poems by Women and Girls, selected by Ella Risbridger. Nosy Crow Books.

Quick, quick!
How many women poets can you name?
Oh, there are so many more than that!

“There is a poem / scratched onto the walls of my throat / no one has heard it / but it is there” writes Kai Cheng Thorn (pg. 31) in this wonderful anthology of 100 short poems by women and girls.

The extensive introduction and afterword recount how the creative work of women and people of color has long been ignored while poems and novels by white men were readily published, leading to this collection. “It isn’t that art by boys is different from art by girls. It’s just that, all through history, we’ve simply paid it more attention. And that’s not fair, either.” (pg. 9)

Stars and cities, pets and wild horses, school time, family time, night time, celebrating common things, honoring persons of influence, worrying about the future – this anthology bring us all these themes and more, in words carefully chosen and artfully arranged and illustrated.

Jean Ayer lists “Everyday Things” in rhyming couplets, starting and ending her poem with
“Millionaires, presidents – even kings / Can’t get along without everyday things.” (pg. 108)

You’ve likely heard these lines “Tell me, what is it that you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?” – you’ll be surprised by the rest of Mary Oliver’s poem “The Summer Day” when you read it in this or other collections.

Readers are invited to create their own anthology of poems, and the Indexes of poets, poems, and first lines can help point the way to other works by these women and girls and one non-binary person who asked that their poem be included here.

“When you see a poem you love, write it down. Copy it out. Print it off. Take a screenshot. Take a photo. Whatever. Write it down; learn it by heart. Keep it with you. Tell someone about it.” (pg. 133)

“Keep a poem in your pocket
and a picture in your head
and you’ll never feel lonely
at night when you’re in bed.” by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers (pg. 114)

Happy National Poetry Month!
Which is your favorite poem by a woman?
**kmm

Book info: She’ll Be the Sky: Poems by Women and Girls / selected by Ella Risbridger; illustrated by Anna Shepeta. Nosy Crow, 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

J is THE JOCKEY AND HER HORSE – yes, a Black girl should ride in races! by Sarah Maslin Nir & Raymond White Jr. (MG book review)

Apr11
Book cover of The Jockey and Her Horse, by Sarah Maslin Nir & Raymond White Jr. Published by Cameron Kids/ Abrams

To understand without words,
to work as a team of two,
horse and rider, running together with one mind!

Was the horse barn was Cheryl’s favorite place in the world, or the pasture where the queen mare ran with their herd? Only riding in races on Jetolara, the first thoroughbred she ever loved, could ever be better than growing up on their Ohio racehorse farm.

Dreaming of a better future for their children, her White mother and Black father married well before the 1964 Civil Rights Act allowed it nationwide.

Cheryl’s great-grandfather was a Black horse trainer who refused to let prejudice force him out of racing. Her father continues the business with pride and knowledge. He is sure that little brother Drew will be a winning jockey, when it’s really Cheryl who has the desire and skill.

A whiz at school, she accepts her mother’s challenge for 1971- if Cheryl aces her senior year classes, she’ll get to race on powerful filly Ace Regard to earn her jockey license!

Studying for academic quiz show tryouts and the jockey license exam, riding Jetolara and Ace in training runs, preparing to race nearby and travel far away to Senegal – can Cheryl do it all?

Listen in on the thoughts of Jetolara and Ace as they find their places in the herd and in Cheryl’s life, too.

This fictionalized story of Cheryl White, the first Black female professional jockey and winner of 750 races, was co-written by Cheryl’s little brother who held almost every job in horse racing – except jockey, because he grew too tall!

What’s your dream job and what will you do to get there?
**kmm

Book info: The Jockey and Her Horse (Once Upon a Horse, book 2) / Sarah Maslin Nir & Raymond White Jr., art by Laylie Frazier. Cameron Kids/Cameron + Company, 2023. [co-author interview] [artist page] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

N is for the dangerous NIGHT RIDE – can she stop it? by J. Anderson Coats (MG book review) #A2ZN

Apr17
book cover of Night Ride, by J. Anderson Coats. Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

For the chance to stay near her favorite of the King’s horses, Sonnia dares to become a stable hand at the racetrack.

Some coins will go to help her family on the poor side of town, some saved for her dream of buying Ricochet.

Another stable worker is a girl? Great! They’re actually junior jockeys in training? Wow! They get to exercise the messenger fleet horses by riding them through the woods and meadows every afternoon? Even better!

Her big brother’s teasing ways prepared her for working with boys, but not for their reckless night riding on the King’s fleet horses, with bets placed…

Sonnia’s first pay, reduced by room and board fees, is much less than she promised to her father, even keeping none back toward Ricochet – will he make her return home to the family pony ride business?

Ricochet is moved into the fleet stables and can now be ridden in the peril-filled Night Ride! Harm to a horse is punished severely by the King. Who at the racetrack can help her stop this before Ricochet is injured?

Will Sonnia’s love for Ricochet help keep all the fleet horses safe or will it hurt the young riders who care for them at the racetrack?

A girl and a horse and a chance to do what’s right…

By the author of R is for Rebel, recommended here, and The Wicked and the Just (more here).

When have you turned away from the crowd, for the right reasons?
**kmm

Book info: Night Ride / J. Anderson Coats. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2021 hardcover, 2022 paperback. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

RIMA’S REBELLION – she rides against tyranny in Cuba! by Margarita Engle (YA book review)

Feb15
book cover of Rima's Rebellion: Courage in a Time of Tyranny / Margarita Engle. Published by Atheneum | recommended on BooksYALove.com

No voice in elections,
no protection from angry men,
no standing under the law – enough!!

Rima’s grandmother fought on horseback during the long struggle for independence from Spain, yet two decades laterin the 1920s Cuban women still cannot vote, not even las Mambisas.

Men hold all the power here, may kill a wife or daughter suspected of adultery without penalty, yet leave their own illegitimate children in poverty with no rights.

Forced to leave school at 14, ‘natural child’ Rima learns lacemaking with her mother in the shack on the far edge of her father’s land, knowing he could destroy it and Abuela’s horseshoeing forge at any time. Riding on her buckskin mare is Rima’s joy and escape:

“The enemy I run away from
is my own thought-trapped self,
all these doubts born within me.
If only I could mount a horse of hope
day and night, airborne, free!” (pg. 44)

It’s awkward to make lace mantillas for her half-sister Violeta, but worse to be mocked at the forge by every man in the village – except the glassblower’s son, who gives her glimpses of beauty in his work and his words.

Year after year, Abuela and Las Mambisas ride in parades to show their skills as horsewomen, inspiring young women like Rima and even Violeta to ride, to ask again and again for voting rights and protection of women’s rights.

Can Rima find a future without the protection of her father?
Can Violeta live up to the perfection he expects?
When will Cuban women finally earn respect and rights?

Happy book birthday to Rima’s Rebellion, another powerful novel-in-verse celebrating Cuba’s history like The Lightning Dreamer (see more here), and Lion Island (recommended here); the Spanish edition will be published in April 2022.

I also recommend the author’s Jazz Owls (here) and With a Star in My Hand (here) – so much poetry, such compelling histories!

What injustice would you parade against?
**kmm

Book info: Rima’s Rebellion: Courage in a Time of Tyranny / Margarita Engle. Atheneum, 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Meet 3 BLACK HEROES OF THE WILD WEST! Graphic novel by James Otis Smith

Mar19
book cover of Black Heroes of the Wild West, by James Otis Smith. Published by Toon Books | BooksYALove.com

Wild mustangs accepted Bob as a herd member.
Mary’s stagecoach always got through, always.
Bass outsmarted and arrested many outlaws.

Perhaps you’ve heard of lawman Bass Reeves, the first Black Deputy U.S. Marshall west of the Mississippi River, but did you know that his dedication to justice inspired the adventures of the fictional Lone Ranger?

Like Reeves, Mary Fields was born into slavery and found freedom in the West working at a mission school, opening her own business, and becoming “Stagecoach Mary,” the most successful stagecoach driver in Montana – a cigar-chomping, punch-throwing, gambling real-life legend.

Bob Lemmons’ patience and tracking skills allowed him to gradually be accepted into a herd of wild Texas mustangs where he challenged the stallion for leadership, then led the mares and colts into his corral. This formerly enslaved man died a respected rancher at age 99 in 1947!

Illustrator Kadir Nelson‘s introduction sets the tone for this new look at American history of the West.

Smith’s art and words bring us along on these heroes’ adventures, with interesting back matter about African Americans on the frontier, how Black and Native Americans interacted, cowboys, railroads, and homesteading.

Which of these heroes would you want on your side on the frontier?
**kmm

Book Info: Black Heroes of the Wild West / written & illustrated by James Otis Smith. Toon Books, 2020. (author video interview) (publisher site)

L for Linh, lost little brother in BUTTERFLY YELLOW, by Thanhha Lai (book review)

Apr14
book cover of Butterfly Yellow, by Thanhha Lai. Published by Harper Collins | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Last plane to safety,
a far away address,
can she find her brother again?

A promised escape flight takes only Hang’s little brother as the Communists overrun their town, and the twelve year old escapes from Vietnam with Mother on a boat… journey of terror in 1975.

From refugee camp to Uncle’s home in Texas in 1981, another step nearer to the address where Linh was taken.

LeeRoy, all done with school and being a city fella, is heading up to the Panhandle to meet his favorite bronc rider and work in rodeos. Helping this teenage gal get to Amarillo won’t take much time, will it?

But the address is now a vacant lot! A neighbor’s information sends LeeRoy and Hang out toward Palo Duro Canyon to find her brother, now called David.

Hang is determined to speak English well enough to tell David every memory of their family, as she and LeeRoy work on the dusty ranch near David’s new home, trying to wrestle thorny mesquite trees from the rocky earth with her brother in his summer before sixth grade.

Amarillo means “yellow” but the dirt there is red and orange, not like the tropical green fruit trees and vines of Vietnam.

Hang is sad that David cannot recall their childhood together, Uncle wants to take David from the new mother who loves him, and LeeRoy isn’t sure whether to stay on the ranch or follow his rodeo dreams.

As refugees flee from danger and desperate situations, how can we help them?
**kmm

Book info: Butterfly Yellow / Thanhha Lai. Harper Collins Children’s Books, 2019. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

J is for Jo, THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL, listening, learning, yearning, by Stacey Lee (book review)

Apr11
book cover of The Downstairs Girl, by Stacey Lee. Published by G. P. Putnam & Sons | recommended on BooksYALove.com

A new advice column to save the newspaper,
a new job to feed them,
a horse race to save them from a criminal!

Living secretly in a forgotten basement, 17-year-old Jo and her grandfather frugally manage on their small income while conversations drift down from the newspaper office above. Being Chinese means daily discrimination, even when carefully staying in society’s shadows.

Her grandfather is a legendary horse trainer, but when he’s injured, Jo must become lady’s maid to cruel debutante Caroline whose wealthy father controls much of 1880s Atlanta.

Like her black friends, Jo is expected to be neither seen nor heard, forced to the back of the horse-drawn trolley, shut out of most jobs.

But Jo must become bold to get medical treatment for her grandfather, to seize the role of advice columnist Miss Sweetie for the newspaper, to discover the tiniest clue about her parents and why they left her.

How many times can Caroline sneak away before the teen’s mother suspects and fires Jo for obeying her orders?

How often can Jo appear at the newspaper office as veiled Miss Sweetie before its young editor recognizes her voice?

How can she get grandfather’s cure from a notorious criminal with so little money in hand?

If Jo can dare to give advice to white society, perhaps she can dare to ride in a horse race as no woman ever has!

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Before reading The Downstairs Girl, I didn’t know that Chinese workers were brought into the South during Reconstruction to replace slaves. No surprise that so many ran away from plantations to cities like Atlanta and Augusta.

What other under-told stories are you finding as you read these days?
**kmm

Book info: The Downstairs Girl / Stacey Lee. G.P. Putnam & Sons, 2019. [author Facebook] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

A haunting past finds Zora and Me: the Cursed Ground, by T. R. Simon (book review) #MCBD

Jan21
book cover of Zora & Me: The Cursed Ground, by T.R. Simon. Published by Candlewick | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Home is a safe place,
family, friends, shared history –
who is trying to steal it away?

A successful town founded by former slaves in Florida nurtured the imagination of Zora Neale Hurston, noted African American author who pushed through so many obstacles to gain her education.

The unfinished business of eradicating prejudice and inequality caused by slavery and Jim Crow continues today.

We read to learn, we read to experience, we read so history doesn’t repeat itself. Read chapter one here free, thanks to Candlewick Press.

How are you reacting to what you learn?
**kmm

Book info: Zora & Me: The Cursed Ground / T.R. Simon. Candlewick Press, 2018. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019.

My Book Talk: There was more to that Florida storm than just weather, as Carrie and Zora discover when their search for a missing horse reveals a dark secret.

Being with Zora’s big family makes only child Carrie feel less alone, and the twelve year olds are free to dream under their favorite tree and visit Mr. Polk who gentles horses (and never speaks) as long as their chores are done.

But their town founded by freed slaves after Emancipation is being threatened by white men in 1903, after many years of tolerance – why?

Young Lucia loved her island home, playing and learning with Prisca, both wishing their mothers were alive. Now Prisca’s father is remarrying, and his white daughter and the black girl must travel with him to Florida in 1855.

Servant no longer, Lucia is now a slave, and none of Prisca’s pleading can change it – why didn’t Don Frederico leave her on the island?

Lucia’s anguished growing-up story alternates with Carrie and Zora’s worries and adventures – are there patterns and connections?

T.R. Simon’s second book of historical fiction based on the childhood of famous African American writer Zora Neale Hurston.

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Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators. 

MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board! *View our 2019 Medallion Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud-
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Medallion Level Sponsors: Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild,  TheConsciousKid.org.

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GOLD: Bharat Babies, Candlewick Press, Chickasaw Press, Juan Guerra and The Little Doctor / El doctorcito, KidLitTV,  Lerner Publishing Group, Plum Street Press,

SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Carole P. Roman, Author Charlotte Riggle, Huda Essa, The Pack-n-Go Girls,

BRONZE: Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy Dodge Cummings, Author Gwen Jackson, Kitaab World, Language Lizard – Bilingual & Multicultural Resources in 50+ Languages, Lee & Low Books, Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, Redfin, Author Gayle H. Swift,  T.A. Debonis-Monkey King’s Daughter, TimTimTom Books, Lin Thomas, Sleeping Bear Press/Dow Phumiruk, Vivian Kirkfield,

MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Author Sponsors on board: Honorary: Julie Flett, Mehrdokht Amini,

Author Janet Balletta, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Josh Funk, Chitra Soundar, One Globe Kids – Friendship Stories, Sociosights Press and Almost a Minyan, Karen Leggett, Author Eugenia Chu, CultureGroove Books, Phelicia Lang and Me On The Page, L.L. Walters, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Hayley Barrett, Sonia Panigrah, Author Carolyn Wilhelm, Alva Sachs and Dancing Dreidels, Author Susan Bernardo, Milind Makwana and A Day in the Life of a Hindu Kid, Tara Williams, Veronica Appleton, Author Crystal Bowe, Dr. Claudia May, Author/Illustrator Aram Kim, Author Sandra L. Richards, Erin Dealey, Author Sanya Whittaker Gragg, Author Elsa Takaoka, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Anita Badhwar, Author Sylvia Liu, Feyi Fay Adventures, Author Ann Morris, Author Jacqueline Jules, CeCe & Roxy Books, Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, LEUYEN PHAM, Padma Venkatraman, Patricia Newman and Lightswitch Learning, Shoumi Sen, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Traci Sorell, Shereen Rahming, Blythe Stanfel, Christina Matula, Julie Rubini, Paula Chase, Erin Twamley, Afsaneh Moradian, Lori DeMonia, Claudia Schwam, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.

Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts: A Crafty Arab, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Biracial Bookworms, Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Descendant of Poseidon Reads, Educators Spin on it,  Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joy Sun Bear/ Shearin Lee, Jump Into a Book, Imagination Soup,Jenny Ward’s Class, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Raising Race Conscious Children, Shoumi Sen, Spanish Playground

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