The great Sophie Blackall--a two-time Caldecott medalist, for Finding Winnie and Hello Lighthouse--returns with If I Was a Horse; as the title intimates, it's an ode to imagination. But this gentle picture-book fantasy also harbors a message about acceptance that may strike a reassuring note with young readers who aren't feeling seen for who they truly are.
The book begins with the words "If I was a horse, I would gallop all day" and an illustration of the animal in motion. On subsequent pages, the horse looks down from a hill at a house occupied by humans ("I could go anywhere I want") and grabs a snack from the house's kitchen ("I'd come home when I was hungry"), while two apparent siblings nosh. The horse gives the younger sibling a ride to school, and so on. The key here is that the horse is unblinkingly accepted by the family and community.
With If I Was a Horse, Blackall seems poised to score a Caldecott hat trick. She works with both digital and physical media, including wallpaper and fabric swatches, and every illustration invites readers to pause to appreciate its details--the intricate design on the underside of a child's skateboard, say. A final, wordless image gestures at the book's unasked question: Who is the horse/narrator really? The illustration shows the younger sibling getting a piggyback ride from what looks like a second older sibling, marking this elder child's first appearance in the book--in human form, that is. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author