ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
PICTURE BOOKS
Blackall, Sophie

If I Was a Horse

32 pp. | Little | October, 2023 | Trade ISBN 9780316510981 $18.99
(2) K-3 A horse-obsessed child imagines all the things they could do if they were a horse. "I could go anywhere I want, and I'd come home when I was hungry." The earnest text is about a young person's desire to have more control over their life, while Blackall's fanciful mixed-media illustrations insert a brown and white dappled horse into a child's world. We see the horse wearing goggles jumping into a pool at a swim meet ("and everyone would want me on their team") and clad in a party hat and tutu marching through the living room ("I wouldn't wear clothes, unless I was in a PARADE"). While the text is restrained, the illustrations are detailed and nuanced: a water hose is abandoned on the lawn, a knitting bag sits on the floor, and a plunger appears next to the toilet. Pictures of horses on the child’s bedroom wall help explain that particular choice of metaphor, and there are hints of the narrator's special bond with their younger sister. There's a sensitive heart and sharp eye in the humor here, creating a book that is good for more than just a laugh.
Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

RELATED 

PICTURE BOOKS

Born Ready
by Patterson, Jodie
PICTURE BOOKS

The House of Grass and Sky
by Ray, Mary Lyn
PICTURE BOOKS

The Dog's Gardener
by Storms, Patricia
PICTURE BOOKS

And I Paint It
by Kephart, Beth
PICTURE BOOKS

Poem in My Pocket
by Tougas, Chris
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?