Terrible Horses: A Story of Sibling Conflict and Companionship

A child with brown skin who wears hearing aids narrates this acutely felt story about sibling conflict. Loosely stroked mixed-media spreads by Wilson-Max show the child standing alone clutching a teddy bear: “My sister is cooler than me. I want her friends to be my friends. I want her things to be my things. She wants her friends to be her friends. She wants her things to be her things.” The siblings fight: “PUSH HURT PULL HIDE/ We do not use our words.” Retreating to their desk, the narrator creates stories: “I am a pony,” they write. “Everyone else in the world is a horse.” They describe the horses’ “terrible trampling, their ghastly galloping,” while kinetic line drawings show the horses galloping off the page toward the reader, and the pony alone under the stars. When the sister finds the younger’s work, reconciliation follows, and a flash of insight draws them closer. Antrobus sees and validates the anger and wounding that erupts during fights and offers, at the end, hope and connection that feel real. Ages 3–7. (Apr.)