I Have a Horse of My Own

I Have a Horse of My Own
Charlotte Zolotow with pictures by Yoko Mitsuhashi /published 1964 by Abelard-Schuman

I'd been putting off looking at this book as it seemed too "girly" to read to my son. (I know, I'm terrible.) But as with all the influences I used to deprive my son of, I've loosened up on keeping him away from all things pink. It's nice to know a book like this was around before princess madness took hold of the female under-seven set. This title is girly without being obnoxious and harkens back to a simpler time before girls needed castles and kingdoms and princes and crowns and thrones and wanted -- quite simply -- a pony.

I have a horse of my own
He rides through the woods at night with me on his back
We race the wind when we come to the meadows
We swim across the river in the darkness
We follow the path of the moon up mountains
and we wind downwards through the valleys
as though we were just one creature
made of him and me

You fall in love with this girl and her horse. Her pink hair flowing behind as her horse sprouts butterfly wings and "disappears like mist rising from the mountaintops". It is all so dreamy and wonderful, until -- that is -- you realize it was only a dream, and the horse belongs to the girl only when night comes again. Sweet, sweet dream.

Also by:
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
Do You Know What I'll Do?
The Hating Book
Flocks of Birds
The Sky Was Blue