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Prairie Colt
Leif, a boy living and working with his father in Alberta, Canada, has watched years of drought devastate his community. Worried about father's failing farm machinery business, Leif decides that in order to save his father's business that he must get his own colt, train it and then win the annual horse race at the county fair.
178 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1947
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About the author
Stephen Holt
7 books1 followerHarlan Howard Thompson, American author of children's books, former international president of PEN International.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 11, 2025
This is a review of the hardback Famous Horse Stories edition by Grosset & Dunlap.
I never thought I'd give a Harlan Thompson/Stephen Holt book one star, but this was just total shit. And this book went on to win an award! Perhaps 1947 was a really bad year for children's books. I would've given this zero stars if not for the illustrations by the late, great Wesley Dennis. I may wind up cutting the illustrations out, hanging them on my wall and tossing the rest of this miserable excuse to kill a tree.
This is one preposterous situation after another. One unbelievable event is preceded by an even MORE unbelievable event. And, sadly, it's all so predictable. Only thing that was unpredictable was the first bear attack.
It was supremely annoying that Big Red is constantly referred to as a red horse ... and about 75 pages in, you find out he's a blood bay. Usually, whenever a horse is called "red", that means he's a chestnut or sorrel. Look up 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat to see what horse people call a red horse.
Another fucking annoying thing is that several key plot points just suddenly up and evaporate ... as if the previous 160 pages didn't happen. Like who really was the sire of Big Red and Rainboy. Like who really OWNED Big Red.
Big Red was described as looking like the perfect Quarter Horse ... and of COURSE he was, because his dam was a Thoroughbred. Like the old joke goes:
"What's a Quarter Horse?"
"A Thoroughbred without papers."
This book had the absolute dumbest protagonist that I've come across in a Thompson/Holt book so far. He decides to save his father's business by raising a winning racehorse -- a process that would take at least three years. How the hell are they going to survive for three fucking years? By eating air? He then accepts a pregnant Thoroughbred mare in lieu of a bill due his father's business -- and doesn't get any bill of sale or any papers of any sort on the mare. He lives in 1940s Canada in cowboy country and doesn't brand his horses. How brain dead can you get?
And a horse swinging a cat around by the tail is NOT FUNNY.
I never thought I'd give a Harlan Thompson/Stephen Holt book one star, but this was just total shit. And this book went on to win an award! Perhaps 1947 was a really bad year for children's books. I would've given this zero stars if not for the illustrations by the late, great Wesley Dennis. I may wind up cutting the illustrations out, hanging them on my wall and tossing the rest of this miserable excuse to kill a tree.
This is one preposterous situation after another. One unbelievable event is preceded by an even MORE unbelievable event. And, sadly, it's all so predictable. Only thing that was unpredictable was the first bear attack.
It was supremely annoying that Big Red is constantly referred to as a red horse ... and about 75 pages in, you find out he's a blood bay. Usually, whenever a horse is called "red", that means he's a chestnut or sorrel. Look up 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat to see what horse people call a red horse.
Another fucking annoying thing is that several key plot points just suddenly up and evaporate ... as if the previous 160 pages didn't happen. Like who really was the sire of Big Red and Rainboy. Like who really OWNED Big Red.
Big Red was described as looking like the perfect Quarter Horse ... and of COURSE he was, because his dam was a Thoroughbred. Like the old joke goes:
"What's a Quarter Horse?"
"A Thoroughbred without papers."
This book had the absolute dumbest protagonist that I've come across in a Thompson/Holt book so far. He decides to save his father's business by raising a winning racehorse -- a process that would take at least three years. How the hell are they going to survive for three fucking years? By eating air? He then accepts a pregnant Thoroughbred mare in lieu of a bill due his father's business -- and doesn't get any bill of sale or any papers of any sort on the mare. He lives in 1940s Canada in cowboy country and doesn't brand his horses. How brain dead can you get?
And a horse swinging a cat around by the tail is NOT FUNNY.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2016
Much in the spirit of Walter Farley, Stephen Holt's Prairie Colt, is a tale of a young boy, his dreams and horses. A great read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews