Little Pinto and the Wild Horses of Mustang Canyon by Jonathan London - OPTIONAL

London, Jonathan  Little Pinto and the Wild Horses of Mustang Canyon  Illustrated by Daniel San Souci  PICTURE BOOK Candlewick Press, 2017.  $6.99  Content: G.  

A little pinto foal is born in the desert.  His family is a band of mustangs led by the stallion, White Face.  They go to find water, but while there a plane tries to round them up and the little foal falls into the river.  The foal is able to get himself up to the other side, and his mom goes to get him.  White Face leads the band back to the mountains and they are able to stay together.  

The illustrations of the horses and canyons is the best part of this book.  The story line reads choppy and almost like a poem.  My second grade son who loves horses didn’t love this book-I think it was confusing to have the plane chase the horses without any understanding and it doesn’t say where the plane went or how the horses got away.  There is an explanation at the back about how there used to be 2 million wild mustangs, but they were ruthlessly slaughtered until their number faded to seventeen thousand and the government stepped into protect them.  There is also a glossary.  

EL (K-3) – OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.