Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Chapter by Chapter, where I receive opportunities to host Cover Reveals & Author Guest Features on behalf of the Indie Publisher Month9Books. This is the second time I was offered to host a blog tour outside of Month9Books, featuring another Indie Publisher: Rebelight Publishing! I jumped at the chance to read this exciting novel for Middle Grade readers, as I am always seeking out light infused Children’s Lit which has a resounding story-line stitched together with a life lesson and/or a character who children can relate too as much as they can celebrate having found. For a bit of background on Rebelight Publishing, please read my anchour supplement on the top of my review for “Missing in Paradise”.
I received a complimentary copy of “Wonder Horse” direct from the publisher Rebelight Publishing in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Horse dramas and Jorie:
I grew up with a wicked fascination with horses and the horse dramas writers would spin into creation via novels and motion pictures. I still remember staying up way past my bedtime in order to finish reading one of the Black Stallion series novels or one from the Thoroughbred series! I was the girl who cherished The Saddle Club and wished she had a wicked awesome group of girls to ride horses with and develop a keenly wicked friendship circle!
Horse dramas were simply an organic progression of where I would want to go literally through stories from the moment I stepped outside the saddle as I was a young rider. I have loads of happy memories following the hooves and dramas of horse girls, women, and men in motion pictures inasmuch as I get a wicked excitement in my heart when I find a new book coming out about the strength of the bond between horse and humans. Young or old, Children’s Lit related or Western Fiction, if the story has a grounding of insight into horses and the inseparable connection of love they give back to those of us who have realised the friendship they give so freely, than the odds are favourable I am going to find the next story which reaches my hands to be a memorable read!
Hence why when this blog tour was only a whisper of a thought on Twitter when Rebelight started tweeting about it, I *knew!* I had to take part! I wanted to read the story which has been re-translated into English from it’s original published Norwegian!
By the by, with the current winner of the Triple Crown creating a buzz in the twitterverse with the tag #WonderHorse, methinks we should have started tweeting out with #WonderHorseMG to create the distinction. Sometimes I worry books will be overshadowed by more popular tags whose ‘chatter’ is anything but on the publishing industry radar.
Wonder Horse
by Anita Daher
Source: Publisher via Chapter by Chapter
Fitting into a new school in a new city isn’t easy, but dreams come true for Sera with a gift from her parents: a gorgeous and spirited American Paint horse. Sera’s bubble bursts when a mean girl, Brittany, tells her that neither she nor her less than well-trained horse belong with the rest of the “reiners” in their riding class. As Sera sets out to prove Brittany wrong, she risks losing her passion for training and the friendship of Dev, another girl who truly understands her.
Places to find the book:
Published by Rebelight Publishing Inc.
on 8th May, 2015
Format: Paperback
Originally published as “Wager the Wonder Horse” by Stabenfeldt (Stavanger, Norway) in 2011 and distributed in six languages: Norwegian, Hungarian, Czech, German, Finnish and Swedish.
Published By: Rebelight Publishing, Inc. (@RebelightBooks)
Converse via: #WonderHorse & #MGLit
Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook
About Anita Daher
Anita Daher has been entrenched in the publishing industry since 1995, and is (thus far) author of fourteen books for children and teens. Aside from short stints as grave-plot seller, tour guide, and children’s party clown, she’s worked in aviation, publishing and broadcasting. When not word wrangling, she enjoys inhabiting characters on stage and screen.
On getting to see Canada with newfound eyes:
As an American reader, I have been fascinated about Canada since I was quite young, as most of our television actors (lead and supporting cast) are Canadian who populate series shot in Canada and the made-for-tv movies I adored since I was a child. Therefore I’ve had a healthy appetite for Canadian literature even before I started book blogging, because I am quite sure I must have stumbled across authors from my northern neighbour at least a few times, did I not? My memory is muddled, but one thing is certain, the provinces of Canada are as varied as the states in the Union! Each having their own unique personality and provincial quirks in regards to their topography and cultural landscapes.
Canada inside Wonder Horse is happily lit alive by lyrical prose set to the rhythm of the lead character Sera, as she navigates a long distance move uprooting her from the West Coast of Canada into the heart of the Mid-Eastern province of Manitoba. This dynamic shift of scenery and place of ‘being’ is aptly centered around her window seat view of her surroundings; as how many of us as school girls and boys would gamely look outside our windows for a reflection of ‘something’ that gave a grounding of normalcy and a proper sense of ‘place’!? I appreciated seeing this lift shift affect Sera in this way, and for Daher who definitely knew how to portray the adjustment.
I even appreciated hearing about the immigrant back-story regarding Sera’s parents and the local rancher; all of whom hail from Poland. European descendents is not as routinely discussed in contemporary literature, unless it hits on the major areas of inclusion: England, France, Italy, or Germany. It’s nice to see Poland being spoken about, as although I am not Polish, I have warmed up to several of their dishes, the favourite of course being pierogis (pockets of pasta filled with potatoes!). Canada and America have such a hearty influence of immigrants from European countries, it’s nice to hear about someone else’s life story for a change! Not to mention all the lovely new names!
My review of Wonder Horse:
A girl receives the most special gift you can have whilst your young: a horse! Her parents are a bit clueless around the edges about typical angst in your school years, as she is quite openly talking about how having child shrinks for parents is not exactly a walk in the park! Laughs. I felt her angst coming off the pages, as much as her heart filled with a bubble burst of joy meeting Wager! Who couldn’t fall in love with a horse who is such a warm and caring soul at first meeting? I am never quite sure how parents forget what school is like when your growing up, but outside of my own parents, my classmates had parents like Sera. Completely out of touch with reality. Sometimes it’s better to stand tall and stick to your own affairs in school, and other times, you get an unexpected friend. Silly parents!
I appreciated watching Sera’s journey with Wager as in the beginning of their relationship, he had the upper hand whereas Sera wasn’t realising the fuller extent of how much control she was giving over to the horse! I still remember my own days whilst riding quite frequently, and thankfully the horse I rode the most often was one I shared mutual respect with as he never took advantage of our connection. If anything, we shared such an accord, it was as if we were thinking in sync with each other! I believe this is the path Sera is meant to be on, but in the beginning of having her own horse, she’s learning how to communicate with Wager so that he understands her as an equal.
Whilst Sera attempts to carve out a path for her and Wager in the world of reining (the Western alternative to the English Dressage; the latter is the method I learnt myself), we are front row center to her journey through middle school. The taunting and the coy way her classmates like to tease her needlessly brought back several memories, as those are the kids who don’t realise their entering the early stages of bullying without it being too cruel yet. Sera is also dealing with the life lesson involved with knowing your own riding skills and your horse’s abilities verse the trainer you’ve hired to teach you both. One interesting bit here in the narrative is how the different points of view shift from school to the arena where Sera trains; in both instances, she is clearly out of her depth but a strong learner. The biggest lesson I saw being set for her by Daher is self-confidence and self-advocacy. When to know to stand up for yourself and how to affirm why you feel something you need to say has leverage to a situation.
Trainers are like social workers for Prospective Adoptive Mums; sometimes you have to meet quite a few to get the one who understands you the best. And, sometimes first impressions are not the whole of a person. It’s a difficult balance to sort out who is a good fit in other words.
This story is about finding your own path in a world that isn’t always conducive to doing that. It takes time to find your personal niche, even in riding. Sometimes you try one avenue only to realise it’s not quite what you thought it might be and you need to switch into another route of exploration. What is nice about how the pace of the story unfolds, is you get to keep pace with Sera and her artsy friend Devon as they both start to navigate what it is like to ‘stay in place’ and find how owning your own true self can be a marked step towards self-confidence.
On my appreciation of Anita Daher and Canadian Children’s Lit authors:
I hadn’t realised Ms Daher has an extensive collection of Early Reader stories wherein I know in the future I will be seeking out a way to read these and perhaps bring my thoughts to my blog! I love how they tackle adventure, hot topics (i.e. the environment for starters) and etch in life lessons to boot! Always something you want to find in Early Readers or Chapter Book editions for readers who are just progressing into reading for pleasure once they pick up on how enjoyable reading can become. I get a bit tied down on the lingo and variants within Children’s Lit, so I am not as keen to know the major differences between Early Readers and Chapter Books, but I do know a wicked good story when I meet one! This is the third Canadian author I’ve stumble across as a book blogger who is writing uplifting narratives for young minds and hearts!
The first of course was Iain Reading who writes the Kitty Hawk series for Young Adults – a series I picked up earlier in 2015 and due to personal circumstances and health related issues cropping up in Spring and now early Summer, I’ve become a bit behind on my readings of Kitty Hawk 2-4. So much so, Kitty Hawk No.5 was released! Oy vie. It’s my intent to read through the series this Summer, but what is so very gratifying as a future Mum and as a current Auntie, is how heart-warming it is to find authors who are ‘getting it right’ for children seeking quality stories created by writers who love the craft!
The second was Larry Verstraete who gave me such a happy glow of praise in finding how adventurous stories for boys can be heart-centered and entertaining for a Middle Grade audience! His Missing in Paradise was not only thought-provoking and stimulating to root out the puzzle of how all the clues inter-connected to each other, but he gave a plausible story a young boy could grab a hold of without growing bored; similar to The Walking Fish.
I previously celebrated authors in Children’s Lit who are alighting on my blog from America, but today, I wanted to highlight the authors from my northern neighbour, as reading more #CanLit has been a definitive goal of mine for years. And, perhaps this is my year to truly embrace the Canadian Reading Challenge by marking off more boxes on the Bingo Card!
The Pinkertons Episode 12: Teaser “Breaking into Allan’s Room” via Pinkertons the Series
Inspired to Share: In case my readers are unaware of this delightful gem of CanTV, and of whom appreciate Westerns & murder mysteries as much as I do, I wanted to find one of the teasers that aptly depicts what I *love!* about The Pinkertons tv serial! I think I did just that in picking out this exchange between the son of Pinkerton and Kate! Their tongue and cheek banterments are keenly the main reason I started to become wicked happy in settling into each newly found episode on my tv! Until of course, I discovered the abhorred realisation my tv is no longer AIRING the serial! Sad times. Hence why I sent this tweet to enquire about the release of seasonal dvds; this tweet to express my disdain of missing Pinkerton after Murdoch Mysteries; and this tweet to express my desire to see if my library can seek out the serial dvd.
Twitter allows all of us to become more vocal in our support for media across publishing, motion picture, television, and the music industry. On any given week, I happily tweet out support as much as I can when something means quite a heap to me personally. As I am now watching “Murdoch Mysteries” through seasonal dvds at my local library, it is my hope I can one day watch “The Pinkertons” because all I have left are these teasers on YT!
I am especially grateful to Rebelight for offering to send out print editions which gave me the honour of reading my two titles by their publishing house! I cannot wait to see what they release next as I will most definitely be keeping my eyes out for more print releases as much as seeing which stories start to expand their catalogue of choices! Rock on, Rebelight!
Don’t miss the author’s interview where she happily answers an eclectic mixture of questions;
the author’s guest post on how she addresses the word ‘ambitious’;
and her guest post on how being horse crazy never goes out of style!
Click through to follow the rest of the tour!
My second review based blog tour for Rebelight Publishing courtesy:
Reader Interactive Question:
What do you personally love about horse dramas!? Do you seek out horse dramas across different branches of literature (i.e. MG, YA, Adult, etc) or do you have a particular penchant for one of them? Which authors speak to you the most?! Any wicked good series!?
{SOURCES: Book Cover of “Wonder Horse”, the Chapter by Chapter badge, the Book Synopsis, Author Photograph of Anita Daher and the Author Biography were provided by Chapter by Chapter and used by permission. Ruminations & Impressions Book Review Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Sergey Zolkin. Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Comment box badge created by Jorie in Canva. The teaser video by Pinkertons the Series had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2015.
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