Roy's friends give him a great big birthday present. "What's this thing?" he asks. It's a saddle. It comes with instructions: "1. Find a horse. 2. Enjoy the ride." Take a look at Roy. He's wearing a big cowboy hat, vest, cowboy boots, bandana, and a map of Texas on his belt buckle. He looks like a cowboy, right? Maybe, but he sure isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. The fellow doesn't even know what a horse looks like. Off he goes to find one.
"Are you a horse?" he asks a squeaky, rusty red wagon. "Nope . . . a horse is a living thing," the wagon replies. He asks the same question of a cactus, a snake, a crab, a chameleon, an owl, a pig, a sloth, a lion, and a zebra, and each one tells him a little more about the animal he seeks. Little by little he puts it all together: a horse is a friendly, clean, fast, grass-eating, legged creature that doesn't change colors or have stripes. "WHY CAN'T I FIND A HORSE," Roy shouts in frustration. And then he sees a brown animal trotting down the road. Checking to see if the creature fits every description, he is overjoyed to see that it does. "Are you a horse?" he asks one last time. "Of course," says the horse. The final pages, with a nutty twist ending, will send all into gales of laughter.
THEMES: COWBOYS. HORSES. HUMOR. IDENTITY. MISCONCEPTIONS.
Roy's friends give him a great big birthday present. "What's this thing?" he asks. It's a saddle. It comes with instructions: "1. Find a horse. 2. Enjoy the ride." Take a look at Roy. He's wearing a big cowboy hat, vest, cowboy boots, bandana, and a map of Texas on his belt buckle. He looks like a cowboy, right? Maybe, but he sure isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. The fellow doesn't even know what a horse looks like. Off he goes to find one.
"Are you a horse?" he asks a squeaky, rusty red wagon. "Nope . . . a horse is a living thing," the wagon replies. He asks the same question of a cactus, a snake, a crab, a chameleon, an owl, a pig, a sloth, a lion, and a zebra, and each one tells him a little more about the animal he seeks. Little by little he puts it all together: a horse is a friendly, clean, fast, grass-eating, legged creature that doesn't change colors or have stripes. "WHY CAN'T I FIND A HORSE," Roy shouts in frustration. And then he sees a brown animal trotting down the road. Checking to see if the creature fits every description, he is overjoyed to see that it does. "Are you a horse?" he asks one last time. "Of course," says the horse. The final pages, with a nutty twist ending, will send all into gales of laughter.
What an uproarious noodlehead story to act out. If you have a group of kids, everyone can be a different animal. If it's just the two of you, one can be Roy, and the other, all of the creatures he meets. "Wisdom comes from seeing the whole," is the mouse moral we learned in Ed Young's Caldecott winner, Seven Blind Mice. For a scouting meeting, classroom or library storytime, or birthday party game, have your kids each select an animal, write a list of five characteristics, and draw a big picture of it. Then play a guessing game. Each child reads his items, one at a time, until the others guess the animal, and then he can show his picture.
THEMES: COWBOYS. HORSES. HUMOR. IDENTITY. MISCONCEPTIONS.
