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Hotey
A wild burro’s restless curiosity takes him on an epic journey on which he must confront danger, fear and sorrow. Set at the turn of the 19th century against the vast landscape of the American South West, Hotey is an inspiring adventure story. In the donkey’s quest to find his home, he meets and learns life lessons from a bird, a mule, a horse and one courageous human. He will find friendship, loyalty and love but he will make an even greater discovery; he will find himself.
Cowboys, cattle wars, silver mining and sheepherding are just some of the surprises in store for the unwitting hero of Hotey. Lost, taken from his herd and captured, he never gives up hope. The unforgettable characters in this Western-themed, coming-of-age, fable will touch and delight the hearts of readers from ten to one hundred and ten.
Hotey is a little donkey. Hotey is also an epic adventure and a life-journey. Josephine Bailey has written a classic, which keeps company with the lessons of Charlotte's Web and the adventure and scope of Scott O'Dell's work. At turns funny, charming, sad and wonder-filled, and yes, at times scary, Hotey is a book to give to your young adult readers, and one certainly to read to your littler children. You will be very happy you did.
(David Mickey Evans (writer/director The Sandlot, Radio Flyer)
Cowboys, cattle wars, silver mining and sheepherding are just some of the surprises in store for the unwitting hero of Hotey. Lost, taken from his herd and captured, he never gives up hope. The unforgettable characters in this Western-themed, coming-of-age, fable will touch and delight the hearts of readers from ten to one hundred and ten.
Hotey is a little donkey. Hotey is also an epic adventure and a life-journey. Josephine Bailey has written a classic, which keeps company with the lessons of Charlotte's Web and the adventure and scope of Scott O'Dell's work. At turns funny, charming, sad and wonder-filled, and yes, at times scary, Hotey is a book to give to your young adult readers, and one certainly to read to your littler children. You will be very happy you did.
(David Mickey Evans (writer/director The Sandlot, Radio Flyer)
152 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 7, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 5, 2013
Cervantes might need to take a back seat to Josephine Bailey. This sometimes amusing and sometimes sad book for young adults gives us another look at the story of Don Quixote with the maturing of Donkey Hotey. Although the stories do not actually follow Cervantes adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, the results are close to the same. OK, it is all different, but it is a story that young adults (and adults) will really enjoy.
Hotey (Donkey Hotey) is born into a wild herd of donkeys, but is accidently captured with a herd of horses by cowboys. Thus begins his travels. From the very beginning, he longs for his home and herd. As he travels, he encounters sadness, joy and excitement. His time is spent growing up and learning about the life of a donkey – as well as horses, humans, cows, dogs and, of course birds in the form of Sancho, the parrot.
“He had yearned for freedom and adventure, but now he had found it, it did not feel as wonderful as it had done in his dreams.”
Will he get home or accept his plight as a working donkey? You will have to read it to find out.
Josephine Bailey was born in London, England. She studied at the Corona Theatre Academy and appeared in several British television plays and films. Since coming to the United States her voice has been featured in animated productions for Nickelodeon, Disney and Dreamworks. She has a love of animals of all kinds and sizes. She has 2 daughters and one granddaughter and lives in South Carolina.
A portion of the sales of this book will go to the Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue.
Hotey (Donkey Hotey) is born into a wild herd of donkeys, but is accidently captured with a herd of horses by cowboys. Thus begins his travels. From the very beginning, he longs for his home and herd. As he travels, he encounters sadness, joy and excitement. His time is spent growing up and learning about the life of a donkey – as well as horses, humans, cows, dogs and, of course birds in the form of Sancho, the parrot.
“He had yearned for freedom and adventure, but now he had found it, it did not feel as wonderful as it had done in his dreams.”
Will he get home or accept his plight as a working donkey? You will have to read it to find out.
Josephine Bailey was born in London, England. She studied at the Corona Theatre Academy and appeared in several British television plays and films. Since coming to the United States her voice has been featured in animated productions for Nickelodeon, Disney and Dreamworks. She has a love of animals of all kinds and sizes. She has 2 daughters and one granddaughter and lives in South Carolina.
A portion of the sales of this book will go to the Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue.
February 22, 2015
I don’t recall ever having read a story, whose protagonist is a donkey or burro, with the exception of the Brothers Grimm’s Bremen Town Musicians. Hotey, the wild burro, is a lovable hero. Even when he is very young he has big plans. He would love to be like the beautiful stallion (“The Rocket”), whose herd shares the meadows with Hotey’s herd of burros.
Hotey is like teenagers, who dream of this and that and have to find themselves.
“He was eager to explore it all. His mother restrained him gently, reminding him that a wise donkey learns to walk before he tries to run. She taught him to respect the older members of the herd…”
Hotey’s herd is a tight group. They have lot of stories to tell. To Hotey the stories of untrustworthy humans, who mistreat and abuse burros, are most scary and fascinating at the same time.
“They told of donkeys who had escaped and found freedom; the donkey heroes. The young donkey would listen and shudder. The stories scared him, but thrilled him too, the way scary stories should. “But who did they escape from, who beat them, who hurt them?” he asked. “Man”…”
Life gets much scarier for Hotey when by chance he gets captured by men, who are really after the stallions. Separated from his herd he has to figure out things for himself, apply what he has learned from his mother and learn to be a leader.
Very cleverly Josephine Bailey introduces very different characters to illustrate temperaments and different success principles. Hotey ponders thoughts and finds answers by observing, asking and learning from others, including men. His trusted friend, flashy parrot Sancho (see book cover), communicates with everybody including men, thus has many answers. Hotey’s and Sancho’s dialogues will help teenagers and even children to understand many of life’s essential values:
“Sancho,” he [Hotey] whispered. “can someone be brave, if in their heart they know they are scared?” Sancho peered out from the white curtain of beard. “Ahh, but do you not see? To undertake something, even though you fear to do it...that is true courage amigo! If you have no fear, then you do not require courage...”
‘Hotey’ is a wonderful and positive read, full of carefully crafted beautiful dialogs:
“Sorry it ain’t more, boys,” Michael patted them. “still, sometimes it’s the small pleasures in life that mean the most. That and someone to share them with.”
Highly recommended to everybody from 9 to 99; in fact, I think this book should find its way into school libraries, where it would be appreciated by teachers, parents and students.
Hotey is like teenagers, who dream of this and that and have to find themselves.
“He was eager to explore it all. His mother restrained him gently, reminding him that a wise donkey learns to walk before he tries to run. She taught him to respect the older members of the herd…”
Hotey’s herd is a tight group. They have lot of stories to tell. To Hotey the stories of untrustworthy humans, who mistreat and abuse burros, are most scary and fascinating at the same time.
“They told of donkeys who had escaped and found freedom; the donkey heroes. The young donkey would listen and shudder. The stories scared him, but thrilled him too, the way scary stories should. “But who did they escape from, who beat them, who hurt them?” he asked. “Man”…”
Life gets much scarier for Hotey when by chance he gets captured by men, who are really after the stallions. Separated from his herd he has to figure out things for himself, apply what he has learned from his mother and learn to be a leader.
Very cleverly Josephine Bailey introduces very different characters to illustrate temperaments and different success principles. Hotey ponders thoughts and finds answers by observing, asking and learning from others, including men. His trusted friend, flashy parrot Sancho (see book cover), communicates with everybody including men, thus has many answers. Hotey’s and Sancho’s dialogues will help teenagers and even children to understand many of life’s essential values:
“Sancho,” he [Hotey] whispered. “can someone be brave, if in their heart they know they are scared?” Sancho peered out from the white curtain of beard. “Ahh, but do you not see? To undertake something, even though you fear to do it...that is true courage amigo! If you have no fear, then you do not require courage...”
‘Hotey’ is a wonderful and positive read, full of carefully crafted beautiful dialogs:
“Sorry it ain’t more, boys,” Michael patted them. “still, sometimes it’s the small pleasures in life that mean the most. That and someone to share them with.”
Highly recommended to everybody from 9 to 99; in fact, I think this book should find its way into school libraries, where it would be appreciated by teachers, parents and students.
January 10, 2014
Hotey is a beautifully written adventure story of a young hero named Hotey and the band of friends he encounters along the way. It is a "re-telling" of sorts of the classic tale of Don Quixote with our hero in this case being a donkey name Hotey. He learns about both the good and bad of life and meets both the best and worst of society. As a young donkey, he ventures too far away from his mother and their herd and is captured by cowboys. He becomes part of the "animal crew" to the cowboys' cook, Miguel,and his partners, Charlie (Miguel's mule) and Sancho (Miguel's parrot. Together these four friends travel throughout the Southwest and Hotey learns what friendship, family and bravery are all about. You will "fall in love" with all of the characters he encounters during his "journey of discovery": Charlie, the fatherly mule, Pancho, his fearless and loyal sidekick, Rocket, the wild horse he helps to "tame" and the 3 mine donkeys he saves from death. The illustrations are equally beautiful and add the perfect complement to this story. I highly recommend this novel as not only is it a wonderful story, but it also gives a voice to the plight of the American donkey, noble animals that our society abuses terribly. Also, a portion of the proceeds of the sales of Hotey go to Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue in Texas.
December 5, 2013
An incredible story; masterfully written. Jo Bailey takes the reader on an emotional rollercoaster as her main character Hotey must face some harsh lessons of life head on. With his unlikely side kick and friend Sancho, Hotey makes, and loses some great friends along the way.
It simply has everything; tears and laughter, good guys, bad guys and unlikely heroes, which is hardly surprising as the author Jo Bailey is an Audie winning Narrator who has worked on numerous Disney and Dreamworks projects.
Hotey is skilfully constructed and Jo seems to have taken the best of everything that has gone beforehand and created an incredible and original piece of work that would undoubtedly be enjoyed by all age groups. It would be a serious oversight on the part of Hollywood not to make a movie animation of this wonderful story and I thoroughly recommend this book to anybody looking for a new read, whatever their normal genre of choice.
It simply has everything; tears and laughter, good guys, bad guys and unlikely heroes, which is hardly surprising as the author Jo Bailey is an Audie winning Narrator who has worked on numerous Disney and Dreamworks projects.
Hotey is skilfully constructed and Jo seems to have taken the best of everything that has gone beforehand and created an incredible and original piece of work that would undoubtedly be enjoyed by all age groups. It would be a serious oversight on the part of Hollywood not to make a movie animation of this wonderful story and I thoroughly recommend this book to anybody looking for a new read, whatever their normal genre of choice.
February 5, 2014
This was a charming and endearing tale about the world seen through the eyes of a curious donkey. Along the way, he meets humans both good and bad, develops friendships with the animals he encounters, but most of all, discovers his true self. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
December 30, 2013
This is a cute story about a burro named Hotey, who comes to life in these pages. I shared this one with my grandsons and we all enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews