The Silver Pony

A boy minding grazing cows on a farm sees a surprising sight: a winged horse flying down from the sky near an apple tree. The boy runs to get his father, but the silver pony is gone by the time they return; the father believes he was lying and spanks him. But when the boy returns alone, the silver pony is there again. The boy gives it an apple, and climbs aboard, and together they soar through the sky and perform rescues and random acts of kindness, until at last they travel too high, and fall. The parents discover the boy on the ground outside their house, and call the doctor. The horse seems gone for good, but in the paddock is a dappled foal.

Gorgeous, evocative illustrations make it easy to follow the action in this wordless fantasy show more story. I loved the detail of the pattern on the boy's pajamas matching the silver pony's dappled coat. show less

This may be Lynd Ward's masterpiece. No words, just his amazing drawings. A young farm boy, resting from his chores, sees (or dreams?) a silvery white winged pony. His father doesn't buy his story, and doesn't approve of daydreaming (or tall tales?). The boy eventually rides the marvelous winged creature around the world, doing good deeds. The ending has a twist, and as in other Ward children’s works, the Father has a surprise for his Son. Open to a lot of interpretation, this book would be a great discussion topic for bright imaginative children. Billed as for the 4-7 age group, I think it might work better for children older than 7. Although younger kids could probably make a good enough story out of the pictures, they might get show more bogged down by the end. Lynd Ward is sort of the father of the graphic novel, having produced six wordless novels comprised solely of woodcuts in the 1930’s. He also illustrated many juvenile books including the first edition of Johnny Tremain. show less

Try not to think about the 'white savior' issue, the boy isn't racist, but has simply been told that he's fortunate and should always be kind to the less fortunate... plus he's been taught about exciting, exotic, faraway lands.

Beautiful pictures in this story that may have influenced books like [b:The Invention of Hugo Cabret|9673436|The Invention of Hugo Cabret|Brian Selznick|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1422312376i/9673436._SY75_.jpg|527941].

Dated in that the boy is spanked (with Dad's hand, fully clothed) for telling a lie, and in that the doctor comes out to the house.

Stunning! It's such a simple, but effective concept with a beautiful story that I'm quite literally in awe. This book will rank among my all time favorites from now on. And it's definitely not only for children.