Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | J 636.1 LAU | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Do horses really walk on tiptoe? Can they solve math problems? Are there wild horses today? Discover what's fact and what's fiction about horses! Award-winning author Patricia Lauber teams up with superb illustrator Rosalyn Schanzer to provide a fascinating introduction to the history, anatomy, and behavior of an animal that changed human history. The accessible true-or-false question-and-answer format adds to the fun for young readers who want to know more about these much-loved animals.
Author Notes
Patricia Lauber was born in New York City and graduated from Wellesley College. During her lifetime, she wrote more than 125 children's books including the Around-the-House History series, the Clarence the TV Dog series, and contributions to the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series. Volcano: Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens received a Newbery Honor in 1986. In 1983, she received The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for her overall contribution to children's nonfiction literature. Besides being an author, she was also an editor of Junior Scholastic and editor-in-chief of Science World. She died on March 12, 2010 at the age of 86.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-"Horses hear sounds that we can't hear" and "A horse's teeth are clues to its age" are just 2 of the 14 intriguing statements introduced here. The true-or-false format is fun and readers who are interested in horses will find the wide variety of facts entertaining and educational. Precise details in the colorful illustrations reveal the look of cocked ears and swishing tails as their meanings are made clear. Nickers, snorts, and squeals-some of the essential sounds of horse communication-are succinctly explained and humorously translated by talking horses. There is enough information here for brief reports and the pictures are pleasant to study and browse. This lively glimpse at this creature's history, behavior, and anatomy should be a popular draw, particularly for young equestrians.-Carol Schene, Taunton Public Schools, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Statements such as Horses walk on tiptoe and Horses sleep for hours at a time accompany the question True or false? and are then followed by spreads discussing horse physiology, history, and communication. Bland, prettified color drawings of horses, plus the fact that the truth or falsity of each statement is never spelled out, detract from the usefulness for younger readers of this otherwise informative volume. From HORN BOOK Fall 2000, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The striking golden palomino pictured on the cover will have this title galloping off the shelf. Do horses walk on their toes? Can you tell a horse's age by his teeth? The author/illustrator team that collaborated on The True-Or-False Book of Cats (not reviewed) takes a similar look at horses in this title. Their affection and admiration for the subject are apparent. Each page includes pictures of horses past and present as well as brief questions and answers. The text is engaging, introducing historical facts and anecdotes: the discovery of the wild horses of Mongolia by Russian explorer Nikolai Przewalski in the 1800s and the career of Clever Hans the counting horse who toured Germany in the early 1900s. Other pages describe the specialized anatomy of the horse: leg bones, teeth, eyes, hoofs, sense of smell, and something about horse behavior. The illustrator extends the text with thumbnail drawings of horse incisors at different ages (yes, you can tell the age of a horse by his teeth) and humorous sketches of horses with balloon captions explaining the message of nickers, snorts, whinnies, and squeals. An appealing title for animal lovers and horse enthusiasts. (Nonfiction. 8-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 2^-3, younger for reading aloud.Like its predecessor, True-or-False Book of Cats (1998), this brief question-and-answer book combines a crowd-pleasing topic with generous measures of historical and behavioral information. Lauber confirms or debunks more than a dozen commonly held beliefs about horses: they walk on tiptoe (true); they can be trained to solve math problems (false); there are still wild, as opposed to feral, horses (false, unless a few still linger in Siberia); and more. She also discourses on such topics as horse sounds, body language, and gaits. In very simple paintings, Schanzer depicts horses of several breeds (unfortunately left unnamed) alone and around people, working, posing proudly and, naturally, horsing around. Enlightening reading, both for young equestrians and students of animal behavior in general. --John Peters