Running with the Horses

Gr 2—4—Inspired by the dramatic rescue of the Lipizzaner stallions from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna during World War II, this fictional story focuses on the 10-year-old daughter of the stable master at the Royal Academy of Dancing Horses in a "graceful old city." When war shutters the school and closes down the city, Nina and her father must escape with the last four stallions. Nina insists upon taking Zelda, an abandoned cab horse, a move that proves fortuitous when the canny old horse stops the party from plunging into a ravine from a broken bridge. Nina repays the horse'ss loyalty when Zelda drops from exhaustion in a snowstorm, and Nina refuses to leave her. At last, they reach her grandparents' house in the mountains. Lester's deceptively simple illustrations pair boldly colorful landscapes with black-and-white sketches of the characters in the foreground. Young horse lovers will thrill to this moving tale of loyalty and bravery.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD