¶ … children: Horses
Informational book 1: Everything Horse: What kids really want to know about horses
The book Everything Horse: What kids really want to know about horses is designed to be a basic, introductory text for horse-crazy kids. The book is also useful, from an adult's perspective, because it introduces children to ideas and concepts that better enable children to understand history and the natural world. The horse has played an important role in how the land was settled and also is a very unique animal. The book is structured along the lines of a series of questions that children are likely to have about horses such as "Why are horses mounted from the left?" "Do horses think?," "Why do horses wear shoes?," and "What was the Pony Express?"
By approaching the subject matter from this point-of-view, the book is able to 'hook' the young reader into reading further. The reader has likely wondered about at least some of the questions, and hearing his or her own voice in the words of the book creates a sense of intimacy...
The first question -- "Did horses come from dinosaurs?" And "Why were horses used in warfare?" are mainly historical in nature, followed by questions like "Do horses sleep standing up" that focus generally on horse behavior and conformation. But there is no clear progression from "Why do horses wear shoes" to "What is a gait?" The book ends with a series of random factoids called 'straight from the horse's mouth.'
The book does not contain a glossary, and some of the vocabulary may be rather advanced for the intended audience of ages 8-11. However, the question-and-answer format does allow the author to explain vocabulary that is likely to be unfamiliar to the reader, such as what a farrier does and the differences between a walk, trot and canter.
Informational book 2: Cherry Hill's Horse Care for Kids
This book, written by a well-known professional rider, is designed to educate the young reader in how to…
