With a name like Terrible Horses one would expect a story about horses who are bullies or mischievous or misbehaving. And in a way, they are. Only the terrible horses in this book by Raymond Antrobus are the narrator’s older sister, and not actual horses.
Told from the point of view of the younger brother (who we will learn is different), when he and his sister fight, they do not use words, but just push and pull. And they hurt each other. Then he goes off to his room to draw pictures of terrible horses who bully a little pony who is smaller, cannot hear, is quiet and slower. He is the little pony of the stories. And after time, he puts the pictures/the stories into a book, which one day goes missing. In short text and simple illustrations by Ken Wilson-Max, we see and learn how just maybe our narrator’s sister is a pony, too, and how they can work together. The soft illustrations and the minimalist arrangement gives us a balance with the more serious issues the two characters face. However, I was wondering if we are to assume the narrator is able to draw the realistic, but obviously drawn horses, or if this is just the actual illustrator giving us what the child feels and sees inside of him.
Due in April 2024, this book is an interesting look at a child with a disability without pointing it out. This way of dealing with the issue allows us to see how everyone is the same, we all have problems with siblings, how our feelings hurt, and the anger that results from that. In fact, at first the story starts off as a sibling book: the new baby is born, the older sibling is upset now they will have to leave their home. And it looks like the issue seems to be resolved quickly, until one of the images shows us something is “different.” I am not saying this is the BEST BOOK EVER but it is a clever book that opens the door to a subject from a less traditional format.