Magic Hoofbeats: Horse Tales From Many Lands

by Josepha Sherman, Linda S. Wingerter (Illustrator)

Good: A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels.Some of our books may have slightly worn corners, and minor creases to the covers. Please note the cover may sometimes be different to the one shown.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Short Stories, Childrens, Fantasy, Folklore

80 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Josepha Sherman was an American author, folklorist, and anthologist. In 1990 she won the Compton Crook Award for the novel The Shining Falcon.

Reviews

[Shazza Maddog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this at the library while looking for something else. A fair amount of the stories I recognized from my childhood, though I'm not sure where I read the stories as this book is a lot younger than I am.

The stories are pulled from legends of various countries and almost each has a boy who finds a magical, often talking, horse. There are some lovely illustrations for each story as well as a bit of information on the native horses of the country the story comes from.

Great for horse loving kids.

[Frances Coe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Various tales in CD format

[Jbondandrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely collection of tales.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous book with really charming illustrations like this one:



although the illustrated copped out of drawing the "humpbacked horse" of one folk tale. I wonder what a humpbacked horse looks like? I put "humpbacked horse" into the Google images search bar and this came up:



Anyway, the book's chapters feature a breed or herd of breeds from the area where the following folk tale originated. This includes some rare breeds like the Caspian, the Marwari, the Bashkir and the Nonius. Some nice info that's not in many horse breed for adult books, I may add. And I can't let this opportunity go by without showing you a Marwari:



My library's copy had a CD in it but I did not listen to it before giving the book back to the library. just my luck the CD will spontaneously explode in my laptop and I'll wind up having to pay for a replacement book and CD.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magic Hoofbeats is a collection of folktales focused specifically on horse tales. Sherman is very clear that she hasn't even included any tales in which the horses are actually transformed people but only those in which the horse is a horse all the way through. The selection covers only North America, Europe, and Asia, but several cultures within each of these continents are included. An opening two-page spread introduces each story with a full-page illustration of the horse breed selected and a one-page cultural note on the place horses held in the cultures selected. The language of the stories is more literary than oral-friendly, but most of the stories could be adapted for oral telling fairly easily. The tales themselves are illustrated with both spot art and larger illustrations in acrylic. These illustrations highlight major plot points and are done in a folk art style with little perspective. The entire presentation is lovely and will appeal to older grade school and junior high horse lovers. One of the few flaws is that while there is a list of sources at the back of the book, there is no explanation for how Sherman adapted each story from the several sources listed for each tale; however an unexplicated list of sources is certainly better than no sources at all.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read: there were several folk tales from various places all over the world, but before each story, there was a well-written and interesting summary about the breeds of horses in the area the story is from, including what part horses have played in that culture over the centuries. The beautiful illustrations were stylized in a charming way.

My favorite story was "The White Mare" from the Basque region. It was very unique in being one of the few stories about a female heroine, and also took the story further than "they got married and lived happily ever after."

[Ledys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful anthology of horse folklore from around the world, not only wonderfully illustrated but very informative, as well. Each chapter focuses on a particular horse breed. The author gives information of its characteristics and where it is believed to have originated, then proceeds to tell a story where a horse from that breed plays a central role in helping humans achieve worthy ends. The illustrations and design of the book are absolutely lovely. It is, in fact, such a pretty book, that I would display it on a coffee table. Very highly recommended.

[Lora · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have a horse loving child in your home, this is an excellent variation on the theme of classic horse stories. This book is full of great fairy tale horses and their inexplicable tendency to help those silly humans. It reminds me of Gulliver's Travels in some ways. These horse tales are from many lands, the art work is well done, and the stories long enough to satisfy a hungry reader. A beautiful book that won me many points as a mommy who understands, lol.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales of magic horses from North America, North India, the Basque Country, Russia, French Canada, Albania, Iran and Hungary. My favorite line comes from the Iranian story:

"Not with one heart but a hundred hearts did she fall in love with him..."

Like horses? Like magic? Read it! Just not to a toddler...

[Judy W · Rating 3 out of 5]

People who are into horses may REALLY like this book.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am a storyteller with an inability to find delightful stories that I want to retell. ughh.

[M— · Rating 5 out of 5]

Find permanent copy for mom.