Celia Ryker

A coloring activity book for all ages featuring Big Guy, a retired show horse, with his horse and human friends from the middle grade novel "Big Guy: A School Horse Story" by Celia Ryker, illustrated by Kathy Connell.Big Guy is a big horse dealing with big changes. His looks and talent have helped him win blue ribbons at the biggest horse shows in the country. But when old age and injury make him unfit for winning prizes, his owner retires him to a position as a school horse, giving riding lessons to children. At the school horse barn, Big Guy meets Shorty, Kaiser, Slippy and many other horses who teach him about running in wide open fields and being part of a herd. He also meets Little Lisa, the smallest rider with the biggest heart. These line drawings leave room for plenty of imagination and tell the story of Big Guy's horse adventures

For fans of Black Beauty and A Horse Named Sky, here's a new middle grade novel by award-winning author and former horse trainer Celia Ryker with illustrations by Kathy Connell. Big Guy is about a show horse who has big changes to face, and who learns that friendships can last beyond the time you share together. Big Guy is a big horse dealing with big changes. His looks and talent have helped him win blue ribbons at the biggest horse shows in the country. But when old age and injury make him unfit for winning prizes, his owner retires him to a position as a school horse, giving riding lessons to children. At the school horse barn, Big Guy meets Shorty, Kaiser, Slippy and many other horses who teach him about running in wide open fields and being part of a herd. Uplifting, funny, and sweet, Big Guy is a simple story told from the horse's point of view that reads like a night under the stars, or an afternoon racing to a hay field.

Raised on a hard-knock farm in Arkansas and married off to the father of one of her classmates at the age of thirteen, Augusta was not set up for a life of bliss. Then, abandoned by her second husband in 1920s Detroit, with four children to provide for, she is forced into a decision that will haunt her forever.From the author of Walking Home: Trail Stories, Celia Ryker's Augusta is historical fiction based on the true story of her grandmother, a woman who lived on a lake and taught her how to catch snakes; a woman who fled the hardships of the Ozarks at the turn of the twentieth century for a new city, and a chance at a better life.

Raised on a hard-knock farm in Arkansas and married off to the father of one of her classmates at the age of thirteen, Augusta was not set up for a life of bliss. Then, abandoned by her second husband in 1920s Detroit, with four children to provide for, she is forced into a decision that will haunt her forever.From the author of Walking Home, Celia Ryker's Augusta is historical fiction based on the true story of her grandmother, a woman who lived on a lake and taught her how to catch snakes; a woman who fled the hardships of the Ozarks at the turn of the twentieth century for a new city, and a chance at a better life.

Celia Ryker's Walking Home: Trail Stories is about more than mud, sweat, and blisters while distance hiking the Long Trail. Reminiscent of Cheryl Strayed's Wild, Ryker's mind wanders as her legs carry her forward, beyond a woodland path, to places and people she thought she had forgotten. Her grandmother's spirit appears on Mount Baker. A lost cousin waits for her at the bottom of every ladder. Her late father's words reverberate among the calls of barred owls. There were days when she didn't see another hiker, but she was never alone. Celia began writing about a difficult hike and ended up writing about the people who inspired her throughout her life. These are her "trail stories."

Celia Ryker's Walking Home: Trail Stories is about more than mud, sweat, and blisters while thru-hiking the Long Trail. Reminiscent of Cheryl Strayed's Wild, Ryker's mind wanders as her legs carry her forward, beyond a woodland path, to places and people she thought she had forgotten. Her grandmother's spirit appears on Mount Baker. A lost cousin waits for her at the bottom of every ladder. Her late father's words reverberate among the calls of barred owls. There were days when she didn't see another hiker, but she was never alone. Celia began writing about a difficult hike and ended up writing about the people who inspired her throughout her life. These are her "trail stories."