Lisa Yee and
Kirby Larson recently posted and re-posted a question which I'd like to pass along:
"What best friend from kid lit would you have wanted to be your best friend when you were a kid?"
OK, I'm afraid my best friend would be Black Beauty (and Ginger and Merrylegs more horses in the book; "Black Beauty"). I was sooo horse crazy at 10 years old that I saved horse tail hairs, one at a time, old horse shoes and horse pictures from magazines. I even cut out the little Pegasus from the Reader's Digest covers. My copy of "Black Beauty" was read and reread until the pages got soft (you obsessed readers out there know what I mean).
I used to sit in a neighbor's pasture and draw the horses while they tried to nibble on my braids – which did look and feel like straw. (when I drew horses I always drew their feet in the grass because hooves were hard to draw).
Of course "Flicka" was a close second followed by "Flame" in the "Black Stallion" series. I also loved 'Hi, Ho' Silver in "The Lone Ranger" TV/Radio show and Trigger from "Roy Rodgers" TV show but alas, they don't count as kid lit. I guess that would give me a herd of 'best friends'.
I liked this question, it reminded me of all the books I treasured as a kid – some of them without horses!
Orville Pig (left), owned by Wilbur Farmer, had heard about houseflys and fruitflys and horseflys but he'd never actually seen a horse fly.
(from "Orville Pig's Flight Plan" by K.A. Higgins)
