Horse Meets Girl (Bramble and Maggie Series)

by Jessie Haas, Alison Friend (Illustrator)

Overview

Come along for a spirited ride as Bramble — a horse with interesting "little ways" — and her devoted girl, Maggie, make their debut in this inviting early reader.

Maggie wants a pony to ride and take care of, and to prepare she's been reading a big book on horse care. Meanwhile, Bramble is bored with giving riding lessons and walking in circles. She's looking for just the right person to take her away from her routine. Is it a perfect match? Maggie loves Bramble as soon as she sees her, but there are some things Bramble has to be sure of. Will Maggie let Bramble venture into new places? Will she protect Bramble from strange objects in the yard? Will she, most importantly, know when Bramble needs her undivided attention? This charming and funny early reader is an ideal match for young animal lovers and anyone who has ever longed for a friend who truly understands.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763662516
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	04/09/2013
Series:	Candlewick Sparks Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	56
Sales rank:	875,356
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	470L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

 

Editorial Reviews

The narrative voice in this early chapter book is superb—direct, succinct, and easy to read for younger horse lovers, but slyly slanted conceptually to encompass both horse and human perspectives. Readers lucky enough to know a horse personally will recognize equine behavior expertly sketched, yet gently articulated as an evolving relationship... And the humorous, lightly drawn gouache illustrations of big-eyed horses and their nonplussed riders will evoke emotions familiar to anyone—adult or child—who has ever struggled to understand a mount with a mind of its own.
—The Horn Book

A fully illustrated story in four chapters, this transition book could be shelved with either beginning reader books or chapter books. Ranging in size from double-page spreads to small vignettes, the gouache paintings create a distinctive look with pleasant hues, rounded forms, and expressive faces. While enjoying the sometimes amusing insights into Bramble’s thoughts, children will empathize with Maggie’s attempts to make her new pal happy. An engaging horse story for young chapter-book readers and a good read-aloud choice as well.
—Booklist

Young horse lovers will find satisfaction in this story about Bramble, an old pony that is tired of giving riding lessons... There are few horse stories written in early chapter book form and this will instantly find an audience.
—Library Media Connection

Haas' latest hits all the right notes, combining accurate horse information with the impossible longing of horse-crazy young girls. Friend's cartoonish watercolors convey affection and sympathy for stubborn Bramble and sweet Maggie. A story like a good lesson horse: easy, pleasant, workmanlike, well-suited to beginning and intermediate riders-er, readers.
—Kirkus Reviews

This finely crafted story about building trust and friendship is gently infused with information about equine care and filled with expressive, colorful gouache artwork on every page.
—School Library Journal

Displays the author’s characteristic and wittily expressed understanding of horses and the girls who love them.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher

Gr 1–3—In this beginning chapter book, Bramble the horse is tired of giving children riding lessons around a ring. Her owner, Mrs. Blenkinsop, realizes the problem and concludes: "No more riding lessons for you. You need a person of your own to have fun with." Bramble is picky about her prospective buyers and temperamental with a girl who has a ring at home and a boy who wants to jump. But Bramble likes Maggie, who arrives with boots, a helmet, and a book about horses. She and her family are picky, too, but give Bramble a home. At first, the horse is frightened of the unfamiliar bushes, a swing set, and a garden hose until the girl shows her that they are harmless. At night Bramble repeatedly kicks the shed door, and Maggie consults her horse book to develop a solution. This finely crafted story about building trust and friendship is gently infused with information about equine care and filled with expressive, colorful gouache artwork on every page. Offer this title to readers who enjoyed Erica Silverman's Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa (Harcourt, 2005) and Elissa Guest's Iris and Walter, True Friends (Harcourt, 2001) and, as reading skills progress, give them Haas's Runaway Radish (2001) and Jigsaw Pony (2005, both Greenwillow).—Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI

School Library Journal

A bored lesson horse finds understanding. Some riders look for the perfect horse. Bramble is looking for the perfect rider. Fed up with circling the ring at her lesson barn, with jumping and with insensitive children, Bramble begins a campaign of passive resistance until the stable owner Mrs. Blenkinsop (a hard name for beginning readers!) puts her up for sale. But Bramble doesn't like the first riders that try her, either: One is too bossy, the other—horrors!—expects her to jump. Enter Maggie, who tries to figure out what Bramble wants. When Bramble goes too fast, Maggie apologizes—"My mistake. I didn't mean for you to go that fast"—and asks again. When Bramble shrinks from a snake in the yard, Maggie explains that it's really a water hose. And when Bramble doesn't want to be alone in her new stall, Maggie spends the night. Other than the improbable-but-cute ending, Haas' latest hits all the right notes, combining accurate horse information with the impossible longing of horse-crazy young girls. Friend's cartoonish watercolors, which appear on nearly every page of this upper-level early-reader, convey affection and sympathy for stubborn Bramble and sweet Maggie. A story like a good lesson horse: easy, pleasant, workmanlike, well-suited to beginning and intermediate riders—er, readers. (Early reader. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews