Praise for Out of the Valley of Horses
2025 Bank Street College of Education “Best Children’s Books of the Year” Selection
Junior Library Guild selection
Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Books of 2024 Selection
49th Shelf Spring 2024 “Most Anticipated Books for Young Readers” Selection
Quill and Quire 2024 Spring Preview: Books for Young People—Middle Grade Selection
CBC Favorites 3rd-5th Grade Children's Favorites
CBC's “Hot Off the Press” Spotlight - Adventure Awaits!
CBC’s “Hot off the Press” February 2025 Selection
“A novel that will sink into readers’ bones as they root for the family....This is a wonderful, unique family survival story with a majestic herd of horses who are not portrayed as wild animals, but as the wise creatures that they truly are....Orr’s latest will delight middle grade readers searching for escape and home simultaneously. Highly recommended for middle grade fiction collections.”—School Library Journal ★ Starred Review
“Reminiscent of fairy tales and fish-out-of-water tales...this speculative story has a just-right mix of fantasy and reality, excellent descriptions of the settings (both enchanted and realistic), and a strong main character with an important quest....A beautifully executed, fantastical what-if tale for right now.”—Kirkus Reviews ★ Starred Review
“The poetic, dreamy writing tells the story in third person, but the narrative generally sticks to the perspectives of the children as they notice the little changes and yearn to leave the place that has kept them safe for most of their lives. A moody and atmospheric adventure ideal for horse fans.”—Booklist
“With a recommendation from the Junior Library Guild....this is a book about restoration and the faith that you’ll get through the hard times.”—Fuse 8, School Library Journal
“The pace of the story is frantic, non-put-downable....an absolutely compelling and original and fast-moving fantasy.”—Youth Services Book Review ★ Starred Review
“A great portal fantasy.”—YA Books Central
“Young readers who like magic, adventure, and horses will love it!...a spellbinding tale….as magical as that of Orr’s popular book Nim’s Island, with a sprinkling of ancient fairy tale dust and plenty of magical horses, make this a must-read.”—The International Educator
“The descriptive writing in this book is lovely; evocative without being long-winded, detailed without ever becoming dull. The cover artist for the edition I read, Tara Anderson, is to be commended for capturing the ethereal spirit of the book itself.”—CM Magazine
“This mix of fantasy and realism is a wonderful family story that reads quickly….The apt descriptions of both valley and real world are compelling and hold interest from start to finish. Honey is a strong, resourceful, thoughtful character and her journey is worthy.”—Sal’s Fiction Addiction
“This book is like a dream world of enchantment. The writing feels like a reverie in the way it flows along taking the reader for a journey….delightful and refreshing!”—Luminous Libro
“Completely magical.”—BookTime
“I was on the edge of my seat as Honey embarked on a daring quest to escape the valley’s boundaries. Fantasy readers will love this world, blending reality with fiction and the magical horses.”—Kids Book Buzz
“What a delightful tale this is for our middle school readers.”—CLDC—Children’s Literature
★ 04/05/2024
Gr 3–7—A family escapes into the wilderness fearing a global pandemic. Siblings Honey and Rumi, along with their parents and grandmother, find themselves in a magical location with a herd of horses that accompany them for seven years until it is necessary for them to venture back out into the world. With the feeling of a classic escape story akin to "The Swiss Family Robinson" or "The Boxcar Children," the family dynamics and connections to nature (particularly with horses), make this a novel that will sink into readers' bones as they root for the family and worry as things start to unravel. Making do with what they find in nature and what they have brought, the family learns to survive in the Australian wilderness without any outside contact. Rumi and Honey are led to believe that no one outside their family might be alive, and if there are survivors they might be lawless. When Papa falls very ill the children, along with their horse companions, must brave the natural and magical boundaries that have kept them isolated in order to save his life in a gripping conclusion. This is a wonderful, unique family survival story with a majestic herd of horses who are not portrayed as wild animals, but as the wise creatures that they truly are. VERDICT Orr's latest will delight middle grade readers searching for escape and home simultaneously. Highly recommended for middle grade fiction collections.—John Scott
★ 2024-01-19
An Australian family sets off on an adventure and gets stranded in an enchanted valley for seven years.
Honey lives with her Nanna, Momma, Papa, and younger brother, Rumi, in the valley of the horses. They arrived on Honey’s fourth birthday, and now her eleventh is approaching, and her father is sick. Honey decides she’ll be the one to find an ambulance for Papa, even if it means heading back to “the wide world,” which they originally left because of a “terrible sickness.” Nanna’s grandfather said that he lived in a valley of magical horses for seven years when he was a child. Now Moongold, one of the special horse protectors of the valley, helps Honey find her way across the bridge the family originally used when they arrived (though Honey worries it might disappear, separating her from them forever). Each chapter ends with a text message from the family members left behind, enabling readers to piece together the situation and understand more than Honey does. Once Honey leaves the valley, the perspective shifts between her and Rumi as their storylines converge. Reminiscent of fairy tales and fish-out-of-water tales such as Brigadoon and Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Running Out of Time, this speculative story has a just-right mix of fantasy and reality, excellent descriptions of the settings (both enchanted and realistic), and a strong main character with an important quest. Honey and her family read white.
A beautifully executed, fantastical what-if tale for right now. (Q&A with the author) (Fiction. 8-12)
