Recently my daughter brought home another book from school – Meet Grace. The cover with the face of a young girl, a cantering horse, some trinkets for a necklace as well as a horseshoe caught my eye.

Reading over the blurb, I was curious about a young girl, who is starving and with only an uncle to guide her. It is always nice to have another quick, easy read to review!

Meet Grace by Sofie Laguna

The highlight of Grace’s day is getting to see the horses on Fleet Street in London. The reader is introduced to her fascination with horses at the end of chapter one. Grace is drawn to a carriage horse that is skin and bone and not treated well by his owner. She desperately wants to feed the horse – and herself! – and run away with it and find a better life.

But a decision to steal food for the horse soon has her on the run from the authorities and her life changes forever.

Meet Grace is an interesting read and well put together for middle grade readers. It provides great insight into the lives of ‘mudlarks’ back in the 1800s in London. It also explores a young girl’s fascination with the equine species, which was a lovely additional touch.

The story ends with much possibility for the future and also explores the changes that were thrust upon ‘convicts’ from England that were shipped off to Australia for a new life. An interesting and educational read with a light focus on horses.

Author: Sofie Laguna
Fiction – middle grade
In my library? This one was borrowed from my daughter’s school library.

When being sent a copy of The Great Quake (Nawaab #1), I also received a copy of Lake Pichola (Nawaab #2) to read and review. The delightful illustrations are once again by Zorka Veličković.

Lake Pichola continues the story of Prince Aryaman and young Nawaab. Once separated by a great earthquake, the prince and his colt are reunited. And along with finding his beloved colt, Prince Aryaman also finds love with Princess Ambika.

This book continues it’s unique focus on the Indian breed of horse, the Marwari. In this juvenile fiction story, Nawaab is a young colt, eager to play with Chetak, another nobly bred colt of the Marwari breed.

On a cloudy morning, the two colts sneak out early and explore a dense forest. It isn’t too long before the colts realise they are lost. A young monkey in a pomegranate tree spooks them and the colts bolt.

Lake Pichola (Nawaab #2)

Prince Aryaman is out on a morning ride, having thought nothing of the footprints he saw in the sand when he first set out. But when he returns on his beautiful mare Zubedia, he realises that his prize colt and Chetak are missing. After notifying Princess Ambika, Prince Aryaman retraces his steps to where he saw the prints that morning.

The morning mist turns to a drizzle of rain and then heavier falls, wiping away prints that will help the prince to find them. Still, he presses on and it is Nawaab’s mother – Zubedia – that knows her colt is close. Soon the four are reunited and it is a happy group that head back towards the princess’ palace with clouds clearing and sunshine following. The story ends on an upbeat note with all parties reunited. Like the first book in this series, the second story and illustrations are sure to delight young horse fans.

Author: Gina McKnight
Fiction – children’s literature
In my library? As an electronic copy it is.

 

Recently I received a copy of Gina McKnight’s Nawaab Marwari Stallion of India. It’s always nice to receive a new book to review! And it’s always lovely to receive horse books that have beautiful illustrations to accompany them. Nawaab is one such story.

It is unique, too in that it focuses on the Indian breed of horse, the Marwari. One thing I distinctly remember about this breed is their ears that curve inwards towards each other – so different to other breeds I know!

Nawaab is the story of a young Marwari colt that is born in 1839. This colt belongs to a noble prince named Aryaman. Gina McKnight paints the picture beautifully of the colt’s birth with her words, but the illustrations by Zorka Veličković further build on this.

Nawaab is a beautiful colt, admired by all. Very soon it is time for him to be weaned – separated from his mother. Prince Aryaman soothes the colt when he is distressed at being separated from his mother. Further distress is felt when the town is affected by an earthquake.

To ensure their safety, Aryaman releases all his prized horses so they are not hurt in the stables in the quake.

Nawaab Marwari Stallion of India

The tale then follows the journey of young Nawaab as he seeks out his home and his mother after the quake. Having only just been separated from the mare, Nawaab is keen to find her and reunite with her in the only home that he has known. But his journey takes him far and wide.

As Nawaab is searching for his mother and home, Prince Aryaman is searching for his prize colt.

Nawaab Marwari Stallion of India is a beautiful short tale that is bound to engage young horse fans – and fans of the Marwari breed. It moves at a lovely pace, has some quite poetic phrases to it and ends beautifully. A delightful read.

Author: Gina McKnight
Fiction – children’s literature
In my library? As an electronic copy it is.

 

Commander Speaks is a very insightful, unique and amusing horse mystery. I am not from a big riding background. And so I found as I read this story, that I learned a lot about the horse showing world – particularly in Hunter classes.

Dante is a very expensive show jumper Hanoverian that comes into contact with animal communicator Izzie Isaac. As Dante works with Izzie to ensure that his person treats him in the best way possible, he also helps Izzie to solve a mystery relating to a much disliked trainer that appears to prey on young women. Mancuse doesn’t appear to have anyone that likes him. And yet, he has incredible power as a top trainer of horse riders in the showing world.

Izzie connects with Dante’s owner – a 67 year-old woman who is insistent that her horse will allow her to take the much coveted first place in her Special Adults division. Suddenly the two find themselves in amongst a murder mystery. With so many suspects and just as many motives, it is hard to know which way to look first.

This is where Dante comes in. But how on earth is Izzie going to convince anyone about this? After all, the evidence that she has been able to gather is through her mind communication with a very large Warmblood.

Commander Speaks by Jody Jaffe

Commander Speaks has a unique spin in that much of the conversation is with a very well educated German horse. There is much humour in the story, too as Izzie and Dante banter back and forth between German observations and American idiosyncrasies.

This was a very entertaining read, with a great horse focus and a really engaging mystery. There is quite a bit of language in it – which I would easily do without, but otherwise highly recommended.

Author: Jody Jaffe
Fiction – secure it now on Amazon.
In my library? As an electronic copy it is.