Honors for A Horse Named Sky
- Debuted on the NY Times Middle Grade Hard cover Best Sellers List at #4 and continued on the list for 30+weeks
- Debuted on the Indie Best Seller List at #5
- A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection
- Translations into German, Turkish, Slovakian, and Hungarian
- Won the 2024 Oregon Spirit Book Award
Here’s review from School Library Journal
PARRY, Rosanne. A Horse Named Sky. illus. by Fagan, Kirbi. 272p. (Voice of the Wilderness). HarperCollins/Greenwillow. Aug. 2023. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9780062995957.
Gr 3-7–Sky isn’t a big horse, but he is fast. Readers meet him as a newborn, experiencing the world from his eyes, and are treated to his wonderment, as well as the challenges of living in the wild. There are big expectations of even the youngest horses. Because Sky is a foal, he knows he will one day have to either fight his father or leave his family, since there can only be one male horse in a family band. A drought makes that day come sooner than he’d like, and he sets out on his own so he is not draining limited water, leaving behind his band and best friend Storm. He’s overjoyed to find that Storm has left the band to join him, but the two are soon captured and groomed to become horses on the Pony Express. Parry has created an entirely convincing setting in which humans are secondary to animals. Imaginative descriptions keep readers guessing the horse interpretation of human vocabulary. Sky’s puzzlement over human behavior is sometimes poignant, and sometimes humorous. He’s stunned to learn they can speak, and is advised not to try to confuse them, as their capacity to understand is limited. Parry’s portrayal of the dynamics between domesticated horses and wild horses is compelling. Those born in captivity believe themselves to be superior to those born in the wild. Despite plentiful water and food, Sky never loses his determination to escape. This standalone companion to A Wolf Called Wander and A Whale in the Wild offers readers a unique perspective of the development of the American West. Frequent soft black-and-white illustrations enhance Parry’s poetic prose. VERDICT This compelling novel has wide appeal and readers need not be horse or animal lovers to appreciate its heartfelt message of family and freedom.–Juliet Morefield
I’m delighted to share this review from Kirkus.
A HORSE NAMED SKY
Author: Rosanne Parry
Illustrator: Kirbi FaganIn mid-19th-century Nevada, a colt named Sky grows up to lead his band of wild horses.
Parry’s moving story follows the pattern of her recent animal tales, A Wolf Called Wander (2019) and A Whale of the Wild (2020), chronicling a wild animal’s life in the first person, imagining its point of view, and detailing and appreciating the natural world it inhabits. As Sky grows from wobbly newborn to leader of his family, he faces more than the usual challenges for colts who must fight their stallions or leave their herds when they are grown up. Fagan’s appealing black-and-white illustrations help readers envision this survival story. Sky’s adventures include forced service with the Pony Express; being befriended by an enslaved Paiute boy; escaping to find his now-captured band; and helping them escape the silver miners who’d destroyed their world. Animal lovers will applaud his ingenuity and stubbornness. Although Sky’s band has suffered serious injuries (his mother is blind), he and Storm, a mare who was his childhood companion, lead them toward safety in a new wilderness. The writer’s admiration for these wild horses and her concerns about human destruction of their environment come through even more clearly in a series of concluding expository essays discussing the wild horses, the Indigenous Americans, the natural history of the Great Basin, silver mining, and the Pony Express.
A feel-good tale of a clever and determined stallion set against a well-developed landscape. (author’s note, resources) (Fiction. 7-10)
Kirkus Reviews 29 August 2023
Research Photos
Wild horses in the American west are struggling with many of the problems the fictional Sky faced in my story. Lack of room to run free and restricted access to water are key among them. One of my research partners was Shannon Windley who has founded a sanctuary for wild horses of the Virginia Range. You can learn more about the work of protecting these amazing animals here! Water conservation and fighting global warming helps wild horses all over the world. The wilderness needs our voice. I hope you will join me in doing what you can to protect the wild things of this world.
