Once We Had a Horse

Glen Rounds both wrote and illustrated this true story about a summer that he and his sister spent trying to figure out how to get onto a gentle horse and ride it. The boy is about 8 and the girl looks to be about 6. The brother and sister have a close, loving relationship and they have a ball despite many thwarted efforts. These young children show wonderful problem-solving skills, creative thinking and perseverance. The old gentle horse even comes to love these children although he does not make it easy for them. Repeatedly they struggle to get their short bodies upon the horses' back only to slide off and fall to the ground (uninjured). My two boys aged 3 and 6 love this story and beg to hear it over and over. I found it by scanning the stacks at the public library; now we must buy our own copy to keep. Just a very cute story with simple themes, it is "good stuff" for the soul.