In keeping with my 'trail' theme I'm thinking this might be 'overgrown trails'. These are favorites from my childhood. Many are out of print or hard to find, some are still on my shelf, others I never owned. All of them bring good memories.

I read a lot as a child. To start with it was mostly horse stories so that's the focus for today's blog. I quickly made it through all the Billy and Blaze books by C.W. Anderson, then it was on to anything and everything written by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis. I specify the illustrator here because he was my favorite horse illustrator and did most of Henry's books. Two favorites stand out: Justin Morgan Had A Horse about the origin of the Morgan horse, and White Stallion of Lipizza, which tells the story of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. As a teenager I saw both the statue of Justin Morgan in Vermont, and the Lipizzaner horses in Vienna.

The Big Book of Cowboys, by Holling C. Holling (not to be confused with another book with the same title) was an absolute delight. Filled with a great story, wonderful illustrations and packed with information (in the spaces around the edges of the pages) on cattle, and brands, horse gear and more.

Ride Like an Indian had so many things I loved ... a kid who was a reader, not part of the popular crowd, an Appaloosa horse with a hidden history, and a secret friend who saw or knew the value of both. Henry V. Larom's story is a bit dated these days, but these are the bits I still love. (To 'ride like an Indian' is to ride bareback, which I did for many years before getting a saddle). Happily, the version I have is illustrated by Wesley Dennis.

Season of Ponies, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder would lead, eventually, to my fondness for fantasy. A lonely young girl, Pamela, is living with her Aunts because her father is often away. He gives her an amulet that had once belonged to his mother. She learns there is magic in it when Ponyboy, a wild boy who lives in the woods, arrives with a herd of pastel ponies. (I imagined them as the glass blown horses a friend of mine collected at the time.) Although the book is about just one magical summer, the feeling this book gave me has never left.

Long before the recent best selling book The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation, by Elizabeth Letz (which is an excellent read) there was Snowman, by Rutheford Montgomery from 1962 and illustrated with photographs. Montgomery actually got to meet Snowman, the horse that nobody wanted, the horse destined for the bone yard, and one that Harry de Leyer might never had seen if not for a flat tire. He saw something special in the dirty, gray horse and thought that if nothing else, he might make a good, steady horse, for his riding school. Instead, Snowman (named by his children) proved to be a champion jumper.

I hope all of you have favorite books from your childhood, too, and think of them from time to time.

Reading Hermit With Dog