Kirjahaku

Horses are amazing. One interesting thing about them is how they adapt to the weather. Through bright illustrations and lively rhyme, children discover how the hours of sunlight increase or decrease during the year to create the seasons. This change in the amount of daylight causes horses to grow thick hair to prepare for cold weather, or shed the heavy coat to be ready for the hot summer. Wanda Snow Porter depicts her knowledge and love of horses in this colorful, rhyming read-aloud, for ages 4 to 9.

A vintage historical, coming-of-age story, Riding Babyface explores a teenage girl's feelings about falling in love and dealing with her mother's alcoholism. In the in the summer of 1957, with the Communist threat, people digging bomb shelters, and Elvis being drafted, the world seems topsy-turvy, but Winna Beckman's mother's drinking problem always makes life even more unpredictable. When the family move to an apple farm on California's central coast, Winna hopes things will change for the better. She makes a list of goals and aspirations: get a horse, make at least one friend, don't flunk ninth grade, and most importantly, keep Mama happy. Winna begs her father to buy a horse. Her dream comes true when he buys two horses, Babyface and Snafu, who is expecting a foal. However, Babyface is stubborn, and riding her is a challenge. Determined to become a better horseback rider, Winna decides she needs to learn how to think like a horse. Except, tricky Babyface doesn't make it easy. Babyface's naughty behavior, trying to make friends, and dealing with family problems keep Winna off balance. She thinks life can't get more complicated. Then, a handsome boy moves in next door.

An unforgettable journey inspired by true events, Spurs for Jos brims with action and excitement. It is a coming-of-age story, not just for one young Indian vaquero, but also for California as it becomes the thirty-first state of the United States.In the fall of 1846, when Jos Rodriquez turns twelve, his papa says next spring he must help tame Rancho Grande's wild colts. He knew this day would come. For on the Alta California rancho, being a vaquero and training horses was his family's tradition. Vaqueros' horsemanship and roping skills were legendary and their lives full of danger. Many vaqueros had been killed or crippled while riding the mustangs. Did he have enough courage to ride the wild ones and measure up to his papa's expectations? Worried, Jos decides only luck will help him be fearless enough to ride the wild colts, luck he will get from a pair of silver spurs and chaps made from a brave bull's hide. But he has no money. How can he buy silver spurs? Then the Mexican-American war starts. And a few days before Christmas, Colonel John C. Fremont's battalion camps on Rancho Grande and everything changes.

A character driven novel about loss, grief, and the healing power of love.Seventeen-year-old Tobi Mathews is frightened by her ex-Marine father's ominous predictions about the end-of-the-world. Are they true or caused by post traumatic stress disorder as her mother says? Tobi's father moves the family to an isolated farm to escape the coming calamity. When her mother leaves to get a job in town, his anxiety intensifies.Afraid her mother might not return, Tobi can no longer deal with her father's endless rants about Armageddon. Led by the dream to go to medical school, she steals her dad's station wagon to escape and live with her mother in Cielo de Ventana. On the way, the wagon breaks down. A man who is traveling to the town where her mother lives stops to help Tobi. She accepts his offer of a ride there, not realizing the serendipitous meeting of this stranger is no mere coincidence.

When Dad is too busy to go fishing, a young cowboy rides his pony on an adventure to capture and corral the monster, Time. A fantastic tale about a father and son's relationship that will inspire the imagination of readers from five to ten years old.