Independent Reading Level: Grades K-1
Awards: An American Library Association Notable Children's Book of 2024, CCBC Choices Best Book of 2023, and New York Times Notable Children's Book of the Year

A silly book that encourages imagination and dreams of becoming whatever a child wants to be. ( )

toddler and preschool Storytime. A fantastic book about a child's imagination and the desire to be free of the restraints of childhood and family life. Our young narrator imagines all the things they could do if they were a horse - they could refuse baths, not wear any clothes, and gallop all they want! Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall pens and illustrates another picture book winner. The text is simple and restrained, and the illustrations are humorous & detailed in typical Blackall fashion. There is heart and humor to this book, and I fully expect it to win an award. This book is perhaps best suited for the preschool crowd and early elementary folks but the nuanced and simple text with bold illustrations works in a toddler Storytime as well.”

I love, love, love the endpapers of this book, an allusion to Muybridge's Animal Locomotion photography. The story itself is simply a list of all the ways a kid imagines their life would be different "if I was a horse," with Blackall's marvelous mixed media illustrations, including watercolor, gouache, pencil, fabric, wallpaper, and Photoshop. The horse - brown, with a black mane and tail and white spots all over - shows a different aspect of its personality on every page. Background characters are diverse. ( )

Sophie Blackall is back from her award winning picture book Farmhouse, with her new release If I Was a Horse.

You might remember Farmhouse was based on the true story of a derelict and neglected house the author discovered after purchasing a farm. Blackall was able to utilise a variety of different items from inside the original tumbledown house in her artwork, including: newspaper clippings, photographs, fabric and scraps of wallpaper. She used all of these different materials in the creation of a fictional family of 12 based on the people she learned used to live there.

If I Was a Horse by Sophie Blackall doesn't draw on history to tell the story, although the title is drawn from a comment her son made 10 years ago on a trip to Iceland:

"If I was a horse I would gallop all day."

The comment entered family lore and went on to inform the story, where the reader is asked to use their imagination to consider what it might be like to be a horse for a day.

The illustration style is warm and inviting with lots of details to enjoy as your eye takes in the scene on every page; the scratched up skateboard, brother's laptop and pink tiled bathroom immediately come to mind. The mixed media wasn't as easily identifiable although the cover design with glitter and spot UV will definitely appeal to readers.

If I Was a Horse by Sophie Blackall is a great children's book for young readers and I couldn't help but wonder if the horse's tail is in the shape of a letter 'S' for Sophie? I like to think so.

* Copy thanks to Hachette Australia * ( )