What’s the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses?

Author Richard Van Camp has always been curious about horses. He is a member of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation, a Native North American tribe that uses dogs instead of horses, because it's too cold for them up in Canada! One wintry day, he decides to do some investigating. Our friendly guide invites us to accompany him on his playful search for the most beautiful thing about horses. He asks his family, his friends, and even the artist, George Littlechild, what is the most beautiful thing they know about horses. The answers he gets range from zany to profound, and show him that even seemingly ordinary things can be seen in entirely new ways.

Richard Van Camp is a member of the Dogrib  (Tlicho) Nation from the Northwest Territories of Canada. An emerging voice in the contemporary Native American literary movement, he was named "the most promising author under 30" by the Canadian Authors Association. His first children’s book, A Man Called Raven was well received in the United States and Canada.

George Littlechild is an internationally-renowned artist from the Plains Cree nation. He has created two widely-acclaimed books for Children’s Book Press, A Man Called Raven and This Land Is My Land, which won the prestigious Jane Addams Picture Book Award and the National Parenting Publications Gold Medal. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
 

Themes: Contemporary Stories, Environment/Nature

Related Books: See books from the Native American communities
 

•    1999—2000 Canadian Children's Book Center Our Choice Recommended List

"The author engages in a remarkable free flow of musings, questions, and answers. His startling narrative style, lively pace, offbeat sense of humor, and refreshing stance give readers a lot to think about. The result is a direct and highly amusing comparison of the value of dogs and horses…. A stunning piece of work that's sure to spark discussion." —School Library Journal

"This is a buoyant, inspiring book that promises to raise many new—and beautiful—questions among children." —The New Advocate

"A rare and splendidly successful marriage of words and images in a book for children." —Quill & Quire