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The Donkey's Day Out
Everything was changing at Hoggart's Farm—the old farmer was moving and the cows had been sold. Fred was worried. What use was an old donkey who liked nothing better than to stand under the willow trees and dream?
24 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1990
2 people want to read
About the author
Ann Pilling
67 books8 followersBorn in 1944 in Lancashire, British poet and children's author Ann Pilling read English at King’s College, London, where she wrote her thesis on C.S. Lewis' fiction. She has published over thirty books for children, one of which - Henry's Leg - won The Guardian Prize for Children’s Fiction. She has two sons, six grandchildren, and currently lives in the Yorkshire Dales. Since 2003, she has concentrated on writing poetry, rather than fiction.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 11, 2025
What a stinker. The text isn't worth a damn. There's no story here -- just preaching. If it weren't for the fine watercolors by Shelia Radcliffe, I wouldn't have even given this book one star.
A once loved donkey gets ignored and abused. None of the abusers face any consequences for their actions. But it's all okay, since he was once used at a Palm Sunday parade.
Are you fucking joking me? As the English say, "Do me a favor!"
I knew I was in trouble during the introduction, when the author says "some time ago" she saw a news report on a Grand National contender that had a donkey as a stable buddy, to keep him calm. She stated the horse was black, but didn't know if the horse win the race. Because, Heaven forbid she share any pertinent information like the horse's name or what year she saw the report. Because that would be helpful. Of course, there was no way to check this story out to see what horse she was talking about.
The mention of a black Thoroughbred should've tipped me off to skip this book. Black Thoroughbreds are extremely rare. I think there's more sabinos than blacks. She actually meant a dark bay, which is very close to black, but with brown highlights, especially on the muzzle. Even the ILLUSTRATOR knew that, and portrayed Tarquin, described in the text as a black, as a dark bay.
A once loved donkey gets ignored and abused. None of the abusers face any consequences for their actions. But it's all okay, since he was once used at a Palm Sunday parade.
Are you fucking joking me? As the English say, "Do me a favor!"
I knew I was in trouble during the introduction, when the author says "some time ago" she saw a news report on a Grand National contender that had a donkey as a stable buddy, to keep him calm. She stated the horse was black, but didn't know if the horse win the race. Because, Heaven forbid she share any pertinent information like the horse's name or what year she saw the report. Because that would be helpful. Of course, there was no way to check this story out to see what horse she was talking about.
The mention of a black Thoroughbred should've tipped me off to skip this book. Black Thoroughbreds are extremely rare. I think there's more sabinos than blacks. She actually meant a dark bay, which is very close to black, but with brown highlights, especially on the muzzle. Even the ILLUSTRATOR knew that, and portrayed Tarquin, described in the text as a black, as a dark bay.
Displaying 1 of 1 review