Recently my daughter has gotten into reading the Unicorn Academy series by Julie Sykes. Aimed at 7-9 year olds, she has been devouring these books. She is often reading 1-3 in an afternoon after school! Curious what they were about – and more than happy to read another horse book – I had a read of Lyra and Misty once she had finished reading it.

This is actually the twenty third book in the series, but it reads fine as a standalone novel. Lyra is rapt to be at the Unicorn Academy and cannot wait to bond with her unicorn, Misty. It appears that the students cannot graduate from the academy until they have bonded and their unicorns have each discovered their magical gifts.

Lyra and Misty by Julie Sykes

My daughter was excited to tell me about the ‘bonding’ experience between girls and their unicorns. Once the pair do officially bond, the young girls have hair that changes to the colour of their unicorn’s coat. What a fascinating idea!

Lyra and Misty focuses on one particular pairing of a young girl and her unicorn. It appears each book in the series has a look at different girls and the unicorn that they are paired with. In this novel, Lyra is excited to find part of a map in a hidden room at the Unicorn Academy. With the girls in her dorm – the Ruby dorm – they go on an adventure with their unicorns to find a missing piece.

The story is an adventure that is fast paced for young readers. It features unicorns heavily. Although there aren’t a lot of horse facts thrown into the book, there is nothing incorrect about the way that things are portrayed from a horse educational perspective. Plus it’s interesting to read the fantasy aspects thrown into the story. Lyra and Misty was a very enjoyable read. It is one I have no doubt other young horse fans would enjoy.

Author: Julie Sykes
Fiction – middle grade
In My Library? No, this one was borrowed from the library.

Recently I was given the opportunity to read Saving Snow Dragon. This is a follow on story from ACE, the Black Stallion! The reader is once again able to get a look in at Ace’s life – the black stallion is still roaming wild and free, but in a BLM round-up he loses much of his herd.

Young Julia has grown into a capable horse woman in this follow on story. She is pleased that her beautiful colt – now a stallion – is still roaming wild and free. Leisel soon learns of the black horse’s presence and grows interested. Julia can think of no one worse to have a hold of her beautiful horse.

Julia and her father Martin soon have new neighbours. After introducing herself to them, Julia meets their horse crazy teenage daughter and soon becomes her riding instructor. Julia will take no nonsense from the moody teen and an interesting relationship develops. In time, the two become friends but not before a couple of mishaps occur because of the impulsive teen.

Julia finds her friendship grows with the young girl, whilst at the same time she explores a potential relationship with a young man she admired whilst working at another stable nearby.

Saving Snow Dragon is another interesting read by Ann Feifel that features horses heavily. The consequences of rash decisions are explored, as well as young love. Saving Snow Dragon was an entertaining read and a good follow on from Ace.

Author: Ann Feifel
Fiction – young adult
In My Library? As an eBook.

I really enjoy reading books by Liz Isaacson. She often combines three of my loves in books: faith, horses and also romance. Although many of her books are cowboy focused, horses don’t always feature highly. But I was pleased to find in Craving the Cowboy, that this wasn’t the case at all. Horses are a large focus in this novel.

Cowboy Dwayne Carver’s first love is horses – raising as well as training them. Unfortunately for him, this isn’t able to be his first focus as he works hard to fun the family ranch and focus on cattle, fences, pastures and any other form of maintenance on the farm.

Horse trainer Felicity Lightburne is hired to help with the training of the farm horses. Four of these are unbroken and Dwayne is eager to shadow Felicity to improve his horse handling and training skills. What he doesn’t anticipate is the beautiful, capable woman who turns up for the job.

It’s obvious Felicity is fighting some demons and Dwayne is aware that he has issues of his own. But he can’t help but be drawn to the beautiful cowgirl. Their passion for horses draws the pair together and it isn’t long before Dwayne is falling for her.

Craving the Cowboy by Liz Isaacson

Although the new love is exciting and the horse work enables the pair to spend most mornings together, there are many responsibilities in family life that pull at the two  of them – and pull them in opposite directions. Craving the Cowboy is a really entertaining read with a lovely romance included. The horse aspects feature quite heavily in the novel, adding to it’s charm. Highly recommended.

Author – Liz Isaacson
http://lizisaacson.blogspot.com.au/
Fiction – adult / romance
In my library? – as an eBook yes!

My daughter is an avid reader currently. It’s a joy from my end to encourage her – I have over 800 horse books on the shelves! So for those that are aimed at her age or a little higher to challenge her, I am happy to make my books available to read. And when she brings home a horse (or unicorn) novel from the school library, I am keen to read it, too! The latest book that she has brought home was The Sunday Horse. This book is written by Marie Gibson and illustrated by John Hurford.

This short chapter book explores an adventure that a young girl named Silvie has with a large draught horse. Over summer, each Sunday Silvie is rapt to find Belle, the park horse come past her home. She always has a treat for the horse and loves to see her.

Belle’s owner Ezra reaches out to Silvie and in time has her helping him with the park rides. Silvie is so proud to boast to her classmates that she is helping with the beautiful draft horse. She even gets to ride up on the carriage and hold the reins!

The Sunday Horse shows a young girl’s delight with a big, beautiful draught horse. The author Marie Gibson does a great job of focusing on the horse’s size and features, describing the fit from Silvie’s perspective as bigger than her family dinner plates.

Although Belle has a lot of allure for Silvie, a cold wet morning has her not wanting to get out of bed to see the beautiful horse. The events that unfurl from this ignored visit lead poor Silvie to question if she’s ruined any further chances of visting with Belle. The Sunday Horse is an interesting read with some beautiful illustrations to go alongside the story. It’s a simple, educational read, too and sure to delight young horse fans.

Author: Marie Gibson
Fiction – children
In My Library? No but it was an enjoyable read.