what_the_mostWhat’s the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses? by Richard Van Camp. Illustrated by George Littlechild • Children’s Book Press, 1998

It’s forty below in the Northwest Territories of Canada. So cold the ravens won’t fly and dogs refuse to bark. So cold that there’s only one thing to do: Ask questions & figure things out.

The book’s narrator, half Indian and half white, is a “stranger to horses.” His people are Dogrib Indians, not horse people. So he asks everyone he can think of: What’s the most beautiful thing you know about horses?

The answers are varied and poetic. Horses always know their way home. They can run sideways and when they run they “seem to flow over the land.” They stare at you as they breathe. Illustrated in gorgeous, vibrant color by George Littlechild, the story flows naturally from interior to exterior conversations, creating a fully realized mental landscape.

This is the sort of book that could work both as a read-aloud for younger children and as inspiration for older children and teens interested in creating their own poetry and images. Lovers of horses, words, Native culture,  and illustration will enjoy this gorgeous book.