Reviewed by Joy H. for Readers Favorite

Emma is not happy with her current living conditions. When Emma’s parents split a few years earlier, this forced her mom to join the Army in order to make a decent living. Things were fine until Emma’s mom was deployed to Iraq, and Emma was forced to come and live with her grandmother. Being brought up in the lights and blitz of city life, moving to the country didn’t suit Emma at all. And those clothes, why does her grandmother have to dress her like that for school? But Emma’s grandmother, her mom’s mother, wouldn’t let Emma complain to her mom about her unlikable conditions, instead she told Emma to write her thoughts in her journal for her mom to read when she returned home from Iraq. Meanwhile, Sox, a foal with a handicap, is living in the barn on the farm. Just as Emma, Sox is lonely because of his disabilities. Soon Sox and Emma find that they can encourage each other and help one another’s loneliness, so they form a friendship that will take them though a whirlwind of difficulties and excitements in their journey ahead.

This is a heartwarming story about a girl and her horse. Not just any girl, not just any horse. Each had their own disability, but each in a unique way helped the other through their lonely times and troubles. You will laugh a little and cry a little as you follow the journey of these two buddies. You will see the changes and growing up that is happening to Emma through reading her journal entries. You will find out what happens with these two loyal friends. Will they stay together forever? I highly encourage you to grab a copy of this book for your young reader. “Backyard Horse Tales” will be a story they will want to read over and over. ( )

Reviewed by Lori M for Readers Favorite

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Jackie Anton wrote a powerful opening when she described the birth of a baby horse in “Backyard Horse Tales: Sox.” Sox is a precocious little colt that, despite having a game leg, is spunky, happy and very inquisitive. The interactions between Sox and his mother are so cute when she explains to him what cows are and what humans are. But personally I think Sox was right and his mom was wrong when he thought children were dangerous and she told him that they’re not. 

The story is really of two main characters and alternates between being told from the perspective of Sox the little horse and Emma, a little girl. Emma’s interactions are told through diary entries. Emma, like Sox, has her own problems to deal with. Her parents have divorced and her mom joined the Army and got deployed to Iraq, forcing Emma into living with her Grandma and attending a new school. Just like Sox’s disability with his leg, Emma too has a disability – Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and the stories tell us how each of them cope with their issues and become friends. Both Emma and Sox make a best friend out of Katie and form a wonderful relationship.

The book teaches young readers about horse reining and it was fun to see a mention of the Kentucky Horse Park because I live in Kentucky. Anton also provides a vocabulary of equestrian-related terms to help the reader understand different concepts which may be new to them and a diagram showing all the names of the different parts of a horse. ( )

Review From
My Devotional Thoughts host of BYHT Sox 2nd Edition blog tour
May 16, 2012 by Ruth

My daughter and I have finally finished this book. It was thoroughly enjoyable, and I will be posting our review here. If you would like more information on the blog tour, check out my post from earlier in the week.

Backyard Horse Tales, 2nd edition by Jackie Anton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My 8-year-old daughter and I read this book together, and she contributed to a good share of this review. We both agreed that this book was fantastic and deserved a 5-star rating.

My daughter loved the fact that the author used correct horse terms. She doesn't know a lot about horses, but she has had a chance to work with them here and there. She enjoyed the story and retained the details of the story even when I got confused. She would highly recommend this book to kids her age and even beyond. She enjoyed the fact that the point of view went back and forth between horse and human.

My thoughts, as a parent, was that it was an engaging, well-researched story. I would compare it to "Black Beauty" in that most of the story was told from the point of view of the horse, Sox. It is an easy-to-read book, and there is a lot of helpful information in the back of the book. It is the perfect book for a parent to read out loud to his/her child, and I think that it would appeal to children of all ages. I also appreciated the fact that the author dealt briefly with issues of military parents and single parents. ( )

I just purchased Sox 2nd Edition on my Kindle. It is a well formatted E-Book with all the illustrations where they should be in the context of the story. E-readers will enjoy much more of what the paperback readers will experience. Bring a tissue for this expanded versions new ending. ( )