Review by Booklist Review
Weber's original debut vaults gleefully into the scrum of nonsense rhymes as the spreading news that the horse has escaped its corral touches off a flurry of alarms: "the bells all rang, / the birds flew south," as clouds cry, eggs break, children dance, and, finally, a comet repeats the chorus a final time ("Watch out, watch out, the horse is out!"). The escapee, meanwhile, prances past neatly drawn garden flora and fauna viewed from ground level, briefly disappears into cottony clouds, and reemerges at the end, galloping through a starry nighttime sky. Along with a belled cat, a jumping cow, a dragon on a mound of gold, and other nods to tradition, the art pays homage to the late, great Eric Carle with variegated, tissue-collage-style strips that border the chorus pages and bottom edges. Consider as a (comparatively) restrained alternative or storytime companion for more unbridled outbursts of mayhem such as Reeve Lindbergh's The Day the Goose Got Loose, illustrated by Steven Kellogg.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"On the day the horse got out,// the bells all rang,/ the birds flew south." The sun rises from billowing clouds, in this picture book, to find a white horse outside a fence, cropping lilies. The bells of the verse belong to other barnyard creatures: a cow with a bell around its neck dashes headlong across the page, alongside a cat with a steady gaze that sits astride a galloping, belled sheep. The sharp-edged wings of birds, meanwhile, echo petals and wind-tossed streamers also shown. The images and text that follow mix the everyday (a missing dog) and the fanciful (a sleeping dragon, a tiny room underground) while building a chaotic tension that never lets go. The horse's final leap into the unknown befits the surreal logic of nonsense verse and leaves behind a delicious sense of unsettling mystery. Creating a nursery rhyme that sounds suitably timeless is a challenge, but newcomer Weber's verse passes the test, and so do her haunting spreads, which carry whiffs of folk art and medieval books of hours. Ages 4--8. Agent: Hannah Mann, Writers House. (June)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K--The story begins as the horse gets out and then covers the impact of this on the other animals, both positively and negatively. Simple text and watercolors draw readers in to the event. When "the rabbit dug too deep and the beetle cried out in its sleep," a closer look reveals tiny details in the roots where the beetle dozes. This is true for most of the book; the larger picture is the escaped horse, but it invites inspection of a spider web and other delightful surprises. VERDICT A great addition to story hour collections, this book invites children to a wonderful time discovering cause and effect.--Elizabeth Willoughby, John P. Faber Sch., Dunellen, NJ
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A horse's escape is major news for the creatures that live in the vicinity. Creatures, plants, and even forces of nature have various reactions to the horse's flight, including near panic, curiosity, and joy. A sheep and a cow run, with their bells clanging. Birds fly south, and a spider weaves a gigantic web. Clouds weep, and a beetle has a scary dream. Eggs are broken, and an eagle expresses its distress to the wind. Kids, both human and a goat, dance gleefully, a green fly bids farewell as it flies away, and a bright orange dragonlike comet shouts as it streaks across the sky. When children learn that the clouded skipper has lost a wing, a very careful examination--and an extra bit of research--might be needed. (Alert: A clouded skipper is a species of butterfly.) Through it all, the snowy-white horse seems totally unconcerned as it romps through the pages. The very sharply hued, colorful illustrations are set against a light, bright yellow. Flowers, clouds, and other entities appear to have recognizable, if distorted faces. Each reiteration of the title statement leads to a sequence of four events, told in a single descriptive large-print sentence. Each sequence is then completed by a warning in ever increasing sizes "WATCH OUT, WATCH OUT, the horse is out!" The last warning frames the horse's leap into a night sky. And who is the goose in cowboy boots? Suspend all disbelief. Visually stunning, highly imaginative, and delightfully baffling. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
