A Dream for the American Mustang
By Joy Cowley, Paintings by Layne Johnson
Boyds Mills Press © Copyright 2003
She is the lead mare of a herd of wild horses that run the range. When people come to capture them, she leads the herd in a run for safety. But trucks and helicopters drive the horses into pens. Imprisoned behind barbed wire, her spirit is almost broken—until a cowboy comes and promises to set the horses free. Based on the true story of Dayton O. Hyde, founder of the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary.
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Chirldren’s Literature
Cowley's version of Dayton O. Hyde's quest to remove horses from their prison on
the plains of the American West and free them to the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary
of South Dakota is a dream come true for horse lovers everywhere. Cowley and Johnson
team up to effectively capture the grave injustice, great struggle and deep emotion
involved in this little known story of our American frontier past. Young and old
animal lovers alike will grasp the helplessness of the penned horses and rejoice
in the fulfillment of the cowboy's dream to liberate them. The extraordinary paintings
make the story real as the reader is able to see the beauty of the wild horses, the
ugly fear of uncertainty, and the horror of the gaunt, captive horses. This delightful
work of art appeals to younger readers through its accessibility and to older readers
because of its beauty and powerful message. Cowley's carefully placed words tug at
the deep, yet simple themes pervading this amazing story of the struggle to set horses
free. 2003,
School Library Journal
Gr 1-4-It's impossible to read this book with a dry eye. Poignant oil paintings, most covering full spreads, depict the collective fear, flight, captivity, and dejection of the herds of "useless" wild mustangs corralled onto Bureau of Land Management feedlots. Focusing on one horse and her cowboy rescuer (identified in the flap copy as the real-life Dayton O. Hyde), Cowley and Johnson do an admirable job of condensing the story of Hyde's dream, doggedly fulfilled, of creating an 11,000-acre South Dakota sanctuary for these displaced animals. Sentimental? Sure (and the irritating, stanzalike layout of the text doesn't help). However, readers come away with a feeling of overwhelming optimism shown by one man's ability to correct an injustice. The illustrations superbly convey the magnificence of the wilderness and the adaptation of rejuvenated, galloping residents to it.-John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview, TX Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
All images on this page are copyrighted by Layne Johnson
and may not be copied or
reproduced in any form without written permission.
