Author : Peter Hansard
Illustrator: Kenneth Lilly
Publisher’s Intended Audience : Ages 4-8
Features: Read-Along CD with Music and Facts
Summary: Every child who has ever clambered up the back of a pony or dreamed of owning a horse will delight in A FIELD FULL OF HORSES. This vibrant book and CD series brings the best of nature stories to life; the way a horse’s tail slowly swishes, the way he or she rests in the shade with eyes half open or half shut, or the way horses trot, canter, gallop, buck and rear. The engaging read-aloud sound effects adds to the experience as young readers hear the sounds of horses at play and work, focus on fascinating facts, and can read aloud with child-friendly prompts. In addition to first person story, the reader is awed with interesting facts about horse behavior, biology and care, and introduces young readers to many breeds of horses including the piebald, the golden palomino, the black, the chestnut, the dun and the grey.
Literary elements at work in the story:
Genre: Picture Book/Informational Facts -Non-Fiction
Setting: The book provides information about horses, including places where horses live, play and work.
Characterization: Peter Hansard, the author, took children with him to nearby fields to see what about horses fascinated children the most. This book portrays horses seen through the eyes of children. The houses are diverse in their size, shape, colors, and actions. Kenneth Lilly, the illustrator, enjoy horses along with his grandfather who was a farmer and horse trainer. His entire family loved horses and tell him that as a baby he managed to crawl out of the garden and through a stable of 21 enormousness horses. He was later found seated next to a large horse eating its oats. The pictures of horses reflect horses as loved and respected creatures.
Plot: The reader views the creature, the Blue whale, as it lives its life in the ocean in relation to human life upon dry land. Humans and whales occupy the same world, yet humans who are smaller in size dominant and impact the life of this beautiful creature.
Theme: The story provides us with informational facts about the characteristics of horses, their personalities, actions, appearance, nature, and life as seen by the author during a visit to “A Field Full of Horses.”
Point of View: The story is told from the perspective of the author, Peter Hansard, first person.
Style: The book is aimed at young readers and horse fans with full of life illustrations of over 32 breeds of horses. The text is short and told in the first person; the writer telling the reader directly all about horses. There is a short index at the back of the book that provides interesting facts to broaden the understanding of the story.
Perspective on Gender/Race/Economic/Ability: The first two pages of the book beautifully illustrate the diversity of horses, as 21 horses fill the pages. The horses are male and female. There is a picture of a Caucasian girl brushes a horse. The horses are healthy and appear to be well cared for and fed.
Scripture: Genesis 1:24-2:4, Psalm 8, Luke 12:22-34
Theology: The book is a powerful expression of the diversity of animals within God’s creation. There are many breeds of horses. Horses are not alike and neither are we. God made each of us unique and special. We are all special to God in our differences and similarities.
Faith Talk Questions (Intended for preschool children):
- Why do you think God made so many different animals?
- Why did God make so many different breeds of horses?
- Which horse do you like best? Why?
- If you were a horse, which horse would you be? Why?
- If you were a horse, where would you like to live? Why?
- Why do you think God made so many people?
- What one question do you want to ask God about horses? Why?
Prepared by Kim Stamey, Master of Divinity(MDiv) and MACE, Entering cohort – 2003.
A Field Full of Horses by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.