The Fiddlehead: Atlantic Canada’s International Journal and the Writers’ Federation of New Brunsiwck presented the winners of the 2018 New Brunswick Book Awards. Tundra Books would like to congratulate Kelly Cooper! If a Horse Had Words was named the winner of the Alice Kitts Memorial Award for Excellence in Children’s Writing.
If a Horse Had Words
By Kelly Cooper
Illustrated by Lucy Eldridge
48 Pages | Ages 4-8 | Tundra Books
ISBN 9781101918722
Red Badger is a newborn foal learning to stand when she slips and gets stuck in a muddy badger hole. It is a young boy who frees her, and his kindness and gentleness mark the beginning of their friendship — though she will always be wary of the ground that briefly trapped her. As the seasons pass on the ranch, Red Badger learns more about her world: Fall is leaf rustle and fence posts. Winter is white hills and long nights. The boy is hay, a gentle touch, playing in the snow and the sweet smell of peppermints. If a horse had words, the word would be . . . friend. This is a beautifully written and heartwarming story told from the horse’s point of view that follows her relationship with a boy from the day she is born, to when she is sent to auction, to the day she and the boy are reunited at a rodeo where she has become a bronc and he a cowboy.
Kelly Cooper (right) takes the Alice Kitts Memorial Award for Excellence in Children’s Writing. Because that’s what “If a Horse Had Words” is. EXCELLENT!!! Seen here with past WFNB President, Rayanne Brennan. @rayanneb @TundraBooks @PenguinRandomCA @tdsb pic.twitter.com/KjIHUIFD5L
– Valerie Sherrard (@ValerieSherrard) May 26, 2019
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