I Am a Rider (Young Dreamers)
Grade 2-5-Evening Shinerock, 13, tells of her life in New England and her pony, Lightning. Children meet her family, see her mother teaching riding, watch the family's move to New Hampshire, and, in the process, learn some of what is involved in owning a horse. This is more like a journey through a photo album than a focused presentation of horseback riding. The friendly, casual tone of the text is reflected in the black-and-white and color photographs. While the chatty, meandering approach to the topic is reader-friendly, children wanting detailed information about horses will have to look elsewhere. Several pictures show youngsters riding without hard hats, which violates a basic safety measure most schools insist upon. This seems to be a somewhat scaled down, updated relative of Jill Krementz's A Very Young Rider (Knopf, 1977; o.p.). It's a good alternative for less able readers.Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.