Hoofprints: Horse Poems

Haas, Jessie

ISBN 10: 0060534079 ISBN 13: 9780060534073

Publisher: Greenwillow, 2004

Synopsis

Complete with an overview of horse history and a glossary, a comprehensive poetry collection provides readers with diverse tales about the evolution of horses from the beginning of time, from the eohippus to the Thoroughbred.

About this title

About the Author:

Jessie Haas lives in Vermont. She has two horses: Josey, a half-Morgan whom she has had for more than thirty years, and Atherton, a young Morgan. Scamper's costume is based on one the real Scamper wore in 1976, at a Bicentennial horse show. Pinky and Meg were real horses, too, and Patty and Karen rode them.

Among Jessie Haas's very popular books for young readers are the "Beware" series; Appaloosa Zebra: A Horse Lover's Alphabet; Runaway Radish; and Sugaring. She is also the author of many books for older readers, including Fire! My Parents' Story; Unbroken; Will You, Won't You?; Shaper; and Hoofprints: Horse Poems. In Her Own Words...

"I grew up on a small Vermont farm. My childhood was full of haying, gardening, horseback riding, and animals. I trained my own horse. I was given a goat for my sixteenth birthday. My mother was the town poundkeeper, so we had an endless stream of stray cats and dogs coming through. Lots of them stayed.

"Along with animals, there was reading. Everywhere. Even in the bathtub. I read all the horse stories ever written, as first choice, and then anything else printed on a page. At Wellesley, influenced by Jane Austen and all those horse stories, I wrote my first novel, Keeping Barney. My teacher, Helen Corsa, suggested I send the book to Susan Hirschman, a former student of hers. Greenwillow rejected Keeping Barney with many useful suggestions. I took them, and the book was accepted a month before I graduated.

"That same month I married Michael Daley, and three years later we built a tiny cabin just uphill from my parents' cow pasture. We had one room at first, with no insulation, no phone, no plumbing, and no electricity-but a very small mortgage. The little house gave us-still gives us-the freedom to pursue our interests without having to get "real jobs." I've worked at a vegetable stand, a village store, and a yarn mill, all part-time, while concentrating mainly on my writing.

"I still live the same kind of life I did growing up. I ride a horse I trained myself. A cat sleeps on my desk as I work. I walk to my parents' farm every day, and I can pick out the exact spot in the pasture where my horse Josey gave me Beware the Mare.

"Writing is a lot like the other things I do. Sometimes it's like planting seeds, and rewriting is a lot like weeding! Then when a story is ripe, it's put in a book to preserve it. Other times, writing feels more like riding, a process of balance, rebalance, and profound concentration. A story can go sour, just like a horse. You have to push it, but not too hard, and keep it moving freely forward.

"I love the challenge of trying to put the truth down on paper. I want to make the words transparent, so that the page becomes an open window. I hope to pass along, through my stories, the joy and strength that others have given to me."

From School Library Journal:

Grade 9 Up--Haas's considerable knowledge, love of, and respect for horses is clearly evident in this collection of 104 poems. Her introduction credits the animal with affecting the lives of Eurasians, North Africans, and Americans ("We have all been changed by the horse, for better and worse"). A nine-page afterword reiterates its history and usefulness. Arranged somewhat chronologically, the poems present, often in abstract terms, a quite thorough view of the horse and its ancestors dating back 65 million years; the character of each evolutionary animal; and the uses of the horse by humans over the centuries. Haas's poetic talent is apparent in her deft use of rhymes and rhythms, descriptive narrative verse, occasional touches of humor, and subtle inferences. Her poems display cleverness and, often, spare, vividly descriptive, well-turned phrases. Understanding them requires some knowledge of world history and familiarity with mythology. A few, like "Dappled Things," are quite adult. ("What's less free than a mare on the urine line/perpetually peeing into a tube,/giving her hormones for women's menopause,/her foals for supper in Paris?") A bibliography is appended, as is a glossary that includes equine terminology, historical empires, places, and people. The collection's major caveat may be that it requires a reader whose fascination with horses equals that of the author's.--Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
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About this edition

• Publisher: Greenwillow
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0060534079
• ISBN 13: 9780060534073
• Binding: Library Binding
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128