Summer Reading

Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan

As a kid growing up I had a long list of my favourite horse stories. It included titles like The Black Stallion, Misty of Chincoteahue, My Friend Flicka and Smokey the Cow horse along with others. I also grew up riding a horse most every day during the summer and at one point in time I think our family had a remuda of around 30+ horses. So it was with great pleasure that I picked up Paint the Wind and was transported to a familiar, wonderful place, filled with the great outdoors and the wonder that can fill a person up by being on the back of a horse.
If your a horse lover, this should definately be your next good read. Even if your not a horse lover - I still think this book has lots to offer. It has earned it way into my favourite horse stories list**

Summary from back cover:
Maya lives like a captive. At Grandmother's house in California, everything is forbidden: friends, fun, even memories. and her life is built on lies Grandmother tells her about her dead mother, lies Maya tells to impress or manipulate. But then she moves to the vast Wyoming wilderness where her mother's family awaits - kind, rugged people who value independence and have no tolerance for lies. They challenge Maya to confront the truth about who she is. And a mysterious mustang called Artemisia waits, too. She holds the kiey to Maya's freedom. But to find it, Maya will have to risk everything ... including her life.

The Scorpio Races

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Not since the days when I made my way through the Black Stallion series by Walter Farley have I been this caught up in a horse racing book. But this is a horse racing book with a twist, this is a horse racing book that is layered with mythology and legends that I had never heard of - the capall uisce, horses that are from the sea, horses that are wild and untamable except for a short time each year when the Scorpio Races are held. But even then the call of the salt air and the crashing waves of the sea call to these beings, and a rider must be on his guard because these horses want nothing more than to drag them into the sea with them. Sean is the returning champion and seems to have a way of speaking with these beasts, Puck is a young girl who is the first girl to ever enter the competition and who has nothing to lose but everything to gain if she wins. Both will have to do battle with the other riders, their horses and each other.

I know for some of you this will be too much of a stretch of the imagination, but the characters of both Sean and Puck are well developed and so to are those of the horses they will ride on the first day of November.

Book trailer.

War Horse

War Horse by Michael Morgurgo


Joey is a war horse, but he wasn't always. Once, he was  farm horse and a gentle boy named Albert was his master. Then World War I came storming through and everything changed. Albert's father sells Joey to the army where the beautiful, red-bay horse is trained to charge the enemy, drag heavy artillery, and carry wounded soldiers not much older than Albert off the battlefields. Amongst the clambering of guns and slogging through the cold mud, Joey wonders if the war will ever end. And if it does, will he ever find Albert again?


Here's another book that you should try and read soon, because in December it is going to be released in movie format - directed by none other than Stephen Spielberg, apparently he was inspired after seeing the London Theatre production of the novel.


Here's a  look at both the theatre production and not a movie trailer but the small bit that has been release about the movie.

Childhood favourite

Last year I surprized my sister with the book Ludo and the Star Horse by Mary Stewart. It was a favourite of both of ours growing up and we both wanted to see if it would stand the test of time and it does.

Ludo lives in a little mountain village in Bavaria. One bitter winter's night, Renti, the family's only horse, escapes from the stable and Ludo follows him to bring him back. Here begins a strange and breathtaking adventure. It is hard to see on the dark slopes, and Ludo and Renti find themselves falling into the House of the Archer- a gateway to the star country of the Zodiac. Together they must follow the Sun through the twelve houses of the Zodiac. In the twelfth and final house, their destinies await.

I always loved reading how Ludo and Renti escape through the clutches of the scorpion (my star sign).

Read on