Customer Reviews

The Silver Pony: A Story in Pictures,

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A very complex story with no printed words. A five year old can tell a fine story from the picturs and a few questions such as "What will happen next?" and 'Why is the father mad?" I called the child "he" once and was quickly corrected by my daughter who had the same short hair and boy like clothes. It is wonderful to have a story where a girl is bold, has wouderful adventures and is loved by her family. We love the book, even 20 years later.

The right reader has a read-to-me kid and shares a vivid imagination with that child. The 80+ illustrations tell a wordless story of a small boy and his magical winged horse. Because it's wordless, the readers have to come up with a lot of the story for themselves - the characters' names, details of why and how, and much more. The pictorial narrative gives plenty of chance for embellishment: exciting rescues of flooded families and lost sheep, some friendly moments with innocent romantic potential, and a potentially frightening scene near the end, a nightmare from the cold war era. Because the story exists only with the reader's help, you control how much you will explore each of the book's themes. Although the images are a black&white and a little dated, they will give you and an imaginative child a lot to work with.

I regret that I came to this book with incorrect expectations. I had just read Lynd's "God's Man," and came away very impressed. It's another wordless story, but a grown-up story (as opposed to 'adult'), and done in woodcut. I hoped for more of that complexity and more of Lynd's work in that medium. This book offers neither. The problem is only in what I hoped for the book, not in the book itself. Still, I came away disappointed.

//wiredweird

I had this book in hardback form as a little girl and spent many hours looking at the beautiful illustrations while imagining the stories to go with them. This book stands the test of time! Any horse lover will appreciate this book, and its wordless plot invites children to come up with their own stories. It's a win-win.

We just got this book from the library and my daughter loves it. I'm going to have to buy it now. She loves being able to tell the story as she sees it, using her imagination. And she also loves reading the book by herself as well as with an adult. A Great idea.

I originally placed this ordered this book from our local library for my two children, seeing as how I remember "reading" it as a child. I never expected that they would love it so much that I had to order them a copy.

Anyways, the best thing about The Silver Pony is that never will the same story be told twice. I have even recommended this book to parents who believe that their children would rather play video games and watch television rather than use their imagination, and obviously it's always been a hit with the kids.

I purchased two used copies of this book, one for my young nieces and one for work. I work at a hospital, and my patients and their families often have to wait up to 1 1/2 hours before their procedure, preparations and all, is finished. For this reason, I have brought in children's books spanning several age groups, which I lock up each night.

The Silver Pony is perfect for this kind of setting. Many super young tots come in with parents, and they can get bored with the toys and books they brought from home. The older children even like the book. The nature of this book makes it an ideal time passer in our office. Young children can "read" it to themselves, or they can "read" it aloud to an adult. Since the reader makes their own words, the story can be stretched or shortened to suit the attention span of the child, and can be altered and embellished anew each time.

With a regular storybook, one must read all or most of the words for it to all make sense to the young child, but in The Silver Pony, one can speed along, or even skip parts altogether without ruining the enjoyment.

The simple, clean, monochromatic artistic style adds a great deal of charm to the story. The characters' expressions are easy to understand. The story emphasizes imagination, generosity, love and friendship. Every child could find something to relate to here.

I also bought "The Biggest Bear" by the same author, but it as not nearly as popular as this book.

The nicest thing about introverted childrenis the way they notice other people and quietly reach out to them, making connections one-to-one. This book illustrates that nicely.

Wordless book, easy to follow and understand.

We liked it.

Better graphic-novel look at a visionary's place in this hard ole world than earlier attempt '' God's Man''. Dislexic reader can read the pictures and not miss anything about the story. God's Man artist sells his vision to the masked stranger and attempts to escape the consequences. Silver Pony farm kid takes his beating when riding the winged dapple, he also reaches out for other lonely visionaries who can see the silver pony. And he takes the consequences of riding the pony too high without whining. It just feels right that the silver pony returns to him no matter what form it appears in.

Drawings tell story completely. Face expression is subtle, locations look like Ward has studied all of them. Again compare to harsh woodcuts of God's Man. This is the standard for writing an entire book without text.

No story in words.. just in pictures. Great way to make up your own story. What is happening? Is the pony real? Cool book to "read" with your kids. Very magicial.

Heather mama of 5

The book was received in good condition and in a timely manner. I would recommend this site to others.