On the Day the Horse Got Out

by Audrey Helen Weber

Overview

Perfect for fans of They All Saw a Cat or Du Iz Tak?, here is a standout picture book debut about curiosity, cause-and-effect, and connectedness, which blends child-appealing rhyme with playful, distinctive artwork.

In this gorgeously rendered tale, Audrey Helen Weber masterfully blends suspense and nonsense, imaginative artwork, and a flawless rhythm that evokes some of the most beloved read-aloud classics, from Mother Goose to Eric Carle.
 On the day the horse got out . . 
the bells all rang,
the birds flew south,
the rabbit dug a bit too deep,
and the beetle cried out in its sleep...
 
But what happened to the horse? Did she find what she was looking for? Drawing on the influence of nursery rhymes, fables, folklore, folk art, and mythology—and combined with Audrey Helen Weber's own playful and surreal sensibility, page-turning suspense and read-aloud magic—here is a transcendent journey that tells a new story with every read.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316459846
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,115,963
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 11.40(h) x 0.55(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Audrey Helen Weber grew up in central Massachusetts and studied theater design and drawing at Hampshire College. For years she created zines and short comics, and On the Day the Horse Got Out is her children's book debut. Audrey's artwork has been featured in numerous publications, including the New York Times Book Review and the New Yorker online. She lives in western Massachusetts, where she has also worked on the education team at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/05/2021

“On the day the horse got out,// the bells all rang,/ the birds flew south.” The sun rises from billowing clouds, in this picture book, to find a white horse outside a fence, cropping lilies. The bells of the verse belong to other barnyard creatures: a cow with a bell around its neck dashes headlong across the page, alongside a cat with a steady gaze that sits astride a galloping, belled sheep. The sharp-edged wings of birds, meanwhile, echo petals and wind-tossed streamers also shown. The images and text that follow mix the everyday (a missing dog) and the fanciful (a sleeping dragon, a tiny room underground) while building a chaotic tension that never lets go. The horse’s final leap into the unknown befits the surreal logic of nonsense verse and leaves behind a delicious sense of unsettling mystery. Creating a nursery rhyme that sounds suitably timeless is a challenge, but newcomer Weber’s verse passes the test, and so do her haunting spreads, which carry whiffs of folk art and medieval books of hours. Ages 4–8. Agent: Hannah Mann, Writers House. (June)

Publishers Weekly

* "Creating a nursery rhyme that sounds suitably timeless is a challenge, but newcomer Weber's verse passes the test, and so do her haunting spreads, which carry whiffs of folk art and medieval books of hours."—Publishers Weekly

"Visual stunning, highly imaginative, and delightfully baffling."—Kirkus Reviews

"With groovy illustrations on pale yellow backgrounds and retro lettering on its cover, [this] feels like an old favorite from the 1960s. There's a slightly psychedelic quality to the story it tells 3-to-7 year olds, too, as the world reacts when a horse escapes its paddock."—The Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

07/01/2021

PreS-K—The story begins as the horse gets out and then covers the impact of this on the other animals, both positively and negatively. Simple text and watercolors draw readers in to the event. When "the rabbit dug too deep and the beetle cried out in its sleep," a closer look reveals tiny details in the roots where the beetle dozes. This is true for most of the book; the larger picture is the escaped horse, but it invites inspection of a spider web and other delightful surprises. VERDICT A great addition to story hour collections, this book invites children to a wonderful time discovering cause and effect.—Elizabeth Willoughby, John P. Faber Sch., Dunellen, NJ

School Library Journal

2021-03-31
A horse’s escape is major news for the creatures that live in the vicinity.

Creatures, plants, and even forces of nature have various reactions to the horse’s flight, including near panic, curiosity, and joy. A sheep and a cow run, with their bells clanging. Birds fly south, and a spider weaves a gigantic web. Clouds weep, and a beetle has a scary dream. Eggs are broken, and an eagle expresses its distress to the wind. Kids, both human and a goat, dance gleefully, a green fly bids farewell as it flies away, and a bright orange dragonlike comet shouts as it streaks across the sky. When children learn that the clouded skipper has lost a wing, a very careful examination—and an extra bit of research—might be needed. (Alert: A clouded skipper is a species of butterfly.) Through it all, the snowy-white horse seems totally unconcerned as it romps through the pages. The very sharply hued, colorful illustrations are set against a light, bright yellow. Flowers, clouds, and other entities appear to have recognizable, if distorted faces. Each reiteration of the title statement leads to a sequence of four events, told in a single descriptive large-print sentence. Each sequence is then completed by a warning in ever increasing sizes “WATCH OUT, WATCH OUT, the horse is out!” The last warning frames the horse’s leap into a night sky. And who is the goose in cowboy boots? Suspend all disbelief.

Visually stunning, highly imaginative, and delightfully baffling. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews