Wild Horse Annie by Tracey Fern - ESSENTIAL

Wild Horse Annie: Friend of the Mustangs by Tracey Fern, illustrated by Steven Salerno.  NONFICTION/PICTUREBOOK.  Farrar Straus Giroux (Macmillan), 2019. $18.  9780374303068

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL, MS - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Velma grew up surrounded by horses, including her beloved wild mustangs.  Even when polio bent her spine, she was undeterred in her love. In the 1950’s “Wild Horse Annie”, as her detractors nicknamed her, led fights to protect mustangs from her own county, to other states, and finally to Washington D.C. to preserve these wild horses for future generations.

The history of mustangs in America is an intriguing and on-going tale.  Annie’s story shows the power of speaking up, the need to protect any species from being used to death by humans, and also would be a great discussion in a Government or Ecology class to talk about the interplay between man and nature.  There is a great non-fiction book by Kay Frydenborg, Wild Horse Scientist, that talks about on-going efforts to limit the population of wild horses that would be a great companion to the picture book.

Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS