Returning Nicholas

DeSaix (In the Back Seat) connects with the psyche of horse-crazy young girls in this mystical equine adventure. Antonia longs for a horse, so when a carnival comes to town, she heads straight for the carousel. She rides one of the wooden steeds, but ``to her surprise she found herself on the broad back of a real horse.'' She has gone back in time, to a period when the horse she rides-Nicholas-serves as a model for the carved horse of the carousel. Antonia returns the lost Nicholas to his grateful carnival owners, and, when Antonia returns to the present, a woman at the carnival gives her a carved horse to thank her for returning Nicholas all those years ago. Despite its convoluted plot, the story is oddly appealing, largely due to hazy, overcast pencil drawings that virtually breathe fairy-tale. This may be a book that only a horse lover could love, but there are quite a few of them out there. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)