Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse

by Marcy Campbell, Corinna Luyken (Illustrator)

Overview

A classic in the making, this heartwarming story about empathy and imagination is one that families will treasure for years to come.

Adrian Simcox tells anyone who will listen that he has a horse—the best and most beautiful horse anywhere.

But Chloe does NOT believe him. Adrian Simcox lives in a tiny house. Where would he keep a horse? He has holes in his shoes. How would he pay for a horse?

The more Adrian talks about his horse, the angrier Chloe gets. But when she calls him out at school and even complains about him to her mom, Chloe doesn't get the vindication she craves. She gets something far more important.

Written with tenderness and poignancy and gorgeously illustrated, this book will show readers that kindness is always rewarding, understanding is sweeter than judgment, and friendship is the best gift one can give.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735230378
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	08/14/2018
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	428,591
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Marcy Campbell lives in Ohio with her family and menagerie of rescued pets. Her writing for adults has been published widely in journals and magazines, including Salon. She grew up on a farm filled with cows, chickens, cats, and dogs, but she never had a horse. Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse is her debut picture book. You can visit her at www.marcycampbell.com.

Corinna Luyken grew up in different cities along the West Coast, and after studying at Middlebury College, she settled in Washington State, where she draws inspiration from nature, her family, and the human form. Her debut picture book, The Book of Mistakes, received four starred reviews and has been praised by Entertainment Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, Nerdy Book Club, and more.

Editorial Reviews

Luyken depicts nature as a wild whirlwind that eventually envelops the characters. She has a charming drawing style, but she also brings a jagged, emotional charge to the story. It is the charge of Adrian Simcox's imagination—where the horse lives. Chloe is stubborn and willful, but she listens and learns and understands. Her first-person narration is realistic, witty and endearing. Chloe wants a series. This heroine is ready for more adventures.

The New York Times Book Review - Juman Malouf

06/18/2018
Chloe scorns the stories that her classmate Adrian Simcox tells about having a horse since she knows they can’t be true: “He lives in town like me, and I know you can’t have a horse in town.” In warm, expressive ink-and-watercolor spreads, Luyken (The Book of Mistakes) paints Adrian, who “gets the free lunch at school,” speaking excitedly to rapt schoolmates. Adrian is lying, Chloe announces, and she sees that her words have “made Adrian Simcox really sad,” but her resentment persists. Then, while walking their dog, Chloe’s mother steers her toward Adrian’s neighborhood (“All the houses looked like they might fall down”), and the two children meet in Adrian’s garden, where Chloe realizes that, horse or not, Adrian has something rarer: the power of imagination. Newcomer Campbell explores with sensitivity the way Chloe opens her heart to Adrian, but the story’s perspective—privileged child learns to value less-privileged child—may limit readership and group use. Luyken’s delicate drawings add welcome depth, culminating in a final scene that makes magic from a tangle of weeds in Adrian’s yard. Ages 3–5. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

08/01/2018
K-Gr 2—Chloe just wants the truth to come out about daydreamer Adrian Simcox and his tall tale of having a horse. He tells everyone at school about his beautiful pet and its white coat, golden mane, and gorgeous brown eyes, but Chloe knows it's all lies. You can't keep a horse in town, and besides, Adrian gets free lunch and has holes in his shoes. When Chloe's Mom has finally had enough of her daughter's indignation, she takes the child to visit Adrian's part of town, where Chloe learns that going along with a fantasy isn't so bad. While this tale offers a moral, it's not preachy; instead, debut author Campbell has penned a gentle, enjoyable story about accepting your friends as you find them. The story finds its perfect accompaniment in Luyken's The Book of Mistakes with this book's muted, fall-tone ink, colored pencil, and watercolor illustrations of Chloe and Adrian's school and homes, the town's beautiful foliage, and, of course, the beloved horse that's brought to life by the children's imaginations. VERDICT This warm tale and its exquisite illustrations is well worth a purchase.—Henrietta Verma, Credo Reference, Jackson Heights, NY

School Library Journal

2018-05-23
A young girl named Chloe learns that, sometimes, it's more important to be kind than to be correct.The book opens to loosely drawn children of various ethnicities casually sitting around a long cafeteria table. Pale-skinned, carrot-topped Adrian Simcox sits far to the right, staring off into space. Text set above him declares: "Adrian Simcox sits all by himself, probably daydreaming again." The next spread—parents and children waiting for a school bus—shows the white narrator looking irritated as she witnesses Adrian telling "anyone who will listen that he has a horse." Chloe has used logic to figure out that Adrian is lying, and the text pulls no punches as she rattles off some of the ways she can tell Adrian could never afford to own a horse, including "the free lunch at school" and holes in his shoes. Chloe notices that Adrian looks sad after she finally accuses him to his face of lying, but it is her mother's ingenious use of showing—not telling—that brings Chloe to a new level of understanding. The tale is poignant and at times slightly humorous as well as frankly didactic. The art is an excellent complement, adding such dimensions as Chloe's mother fixing a bike; contrasts between Chloe's and Adrian's respective school desks and neighborhoods; brushy foliage that repeatedly reveals Adrian's imaginary horse.A good conversation starter for use with children who share Chloe's privilege. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews