Arno and His Horse

“Besides offering an Australian setting and suggesting the boy's powerful connection with his grandfather, the book communicates a strong sense that something magical has happened … [T]he inviting artwork, created with watercolors, gouache, and colored pencils, uses repeated lines and forms to echo the rhythm of the verse text … An appealing addition to picture-book collections.”

“When Arno loses his wooden horse, everyone helps hunt for the small carving … [Grandpa] is introduced as the now-deceased carver of the horse. That’s what makes it special. After Arno dreams about his grandpa, he knows where to find the horse…Grandpa is seen fording the river, both in Arno’s memory of his grandfather’s stories and in his dream. Does it matter? The book’s emphasis on the relationship between the older man and the young boy is comforting.”

“Beautifully written with a rhyming text, matched with exquisite illustrations, Arno and His Horse deftly explore the themes of love, memory, loss and the power objects can hold—making it a unique, entertaining, and unreservedly recommended addition to family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and community library picture book collections for children ages 3-6.”

“A story of loss and also of the things we keep. Memories, mementos … This is a lovely, rhyming book that never explicitly shows the grandfather dying, and in fact, the grandfather could be absent for other reasons, though there’s a sense of loss that permeates the text, and of finding what we lose. My daughter connects to the idea of losing a lovey or a toy and trying to find it.”

“A beautiful story to help littles navigate loss and grief, while sharing with them the power of memories.”

“A beautifully written rhyming text, matched with exquisite illustrations, that explores love, memory, loss and the power objects can hold.”