Small Readers: Tails from History: A pony with her writer by Thea Feldman, illustrated by Rachel Sanson

My own "girl obsessed with horses" phase as a child was extremely brief, but it's definitely still a phase many kids go through and I had friends who took it way farther than I ever did. Back in the day (like, a hundred years ago! according to my book club kids, no I'm not that old) Marguerite Henry's horse stories were passed around between us and hugely popular. Some of this was probably due to the small group (homeschooled) I grew up in, but the books were still quite popular at that time. Forward to the future, and although I have many of the books, originals and new editions, in our library, horse lovers seem to gravitate to newer series, especially those with more drama. I wonder if any of them are even familiar with the classic Misty of Chincoteague any more.

All of which is a long introduction to this upper level easy reader telling the story of Marguerite Henry and how she came to write the classic horse story (and by the way, it still annoys me that the girl wasn't allowed to go on the horse drive. I've long forgotten the kids' names, but it STILL BOTHERS ME.)

The story starts with the Pony Penning of 1946, as people from all over the world, including a writer named Marguerite Henry, gather to watch the wild ponies of Assateague gathered up and some are selected for sale. Henry visits a special pony named Misty, owned by the Beebe family, and fell in love. She asked the Beebes if she could borrow the pony, write a story about her, and take her on tour. When Misty arrived, she thought she had the wrong pony until her winter coat was shed and her unique markings reappeared. Misty traveled and lived with Marguerite until she was old enough to have her own foals and then she was returned to the Beebes.

A final page of facts gives some additional information about the ponies of Assateague and Chincoteague and Marguerite Henry. There are a couple things I suspect are historically inaccurate. The first picture shows a racially diverse crowd waiting for the pony penning - that seems highly unlikely in 1940s Virginia. The same thing applies to the darker-skinned members of audiences for Henry's author visits. While it would be nice to think that libraries were always open to all, that simply isn't true. I'm also a little leary of the exploitation of Misty - would a horse really enjoy being carted all over the place? I don't know much about horses though, so maybe she was fine with it.

Verdict: Despite its flaws, this is a fun book to introduce younger readers to a class horse story and an author who is undeservedly mostly forgotten today. Make sure you have the books on hand, possibly in audio for readers who can't handle the lengthier text, so they can learn more about Misty.

ISBN: 9781534451537; Published November 2019 by Simon Spotlight; Borrowed from another library in my consortium