A Horse Named Steve

Author & Illustrator: Kelly Collier
Kids Can Press (2017)

A horse named Steve is looking to become exceptional. He finds a gold horn and decides to put it on his head. As he goes to show his friends, it falls below his chin. He becomes worried and upset and frantically tries to locate his beautiful horn. He eventually comes to realize that he can be exceptional without his horn.

Kelly Collier created a new picture book titled A Horse Named Steve. Collier's story takes the reader on Steve's adventure as he seeks to become exceptional. This story is written using creative language and includes excellent illustrations and a thoughtful lesson/theme. A Horse Named Steve is bound to make the reader laugh-out-loud as they read the humorous story of a silly horse. This book is a terrific story with an important theme about the difference between what people think will make them special and what really makes them special. 
The story of A Horse Named Steve begins with an introduction to Steve the horse. The reader learns that he wants to be exceptional. Author Kelly Collier includes a small arrow that points to a simple definition of exceptional. She writes:
"He wants to be exceptional" (1).  (arrow points to word exceptional and underneath it says "that means special" (1). )
This small edition allows beginner readers to understand some of the more challenging vocabulary words used. Next, Steve begins his adventure of becoming exceptional. He comes across a gold horn in the woods. Again, Collier includes small arrows with humorous text that help develop the story. Steve thinks about what to do with this his newly found golden horn. He comes up with the idea of making it a unicorn horn. He runs to show his friends his new horn and tells them they should all get one too. All his forest friends make their own horns out of twigs and rope. When Steve asked his raccoon friend what he thought of his golden horn, he was confused because there was not a horn on his head. It had slid to under his chin without Steve knowing. Steve became worried and frantically searches for his beautiful golden horn. He looks everywhere for it, but can't find it anywhere (it is strapped under his chin). He begins to sob hysterically. He goes to get a drink from a nearby pond and sees his reflection in the water. He is relieved when he sees his horn in the reflection and reaches to grab it. (he thinks it is in the water and doesn't realize it is still strapped on). Steve reaches so far into the pond that he falls in. Poor Steve is now wet and hornless. His beautiful horn is now lost in the water. Before Steve began to cry again, he thought of something. As Steve looks at all his friends with horns strapped to their heads, he says "All of you look exceptional but I just look realized that I look exceptionally different!"(33). The book ends with a picture of Steve smiling. 

Throughout this book, Collier utilizes creative text in her story. She incorporates small captions and quotes from other animals or from Steve himself. This adds to the story and makes it much more fun and exciting. An excellent example of this is seen on pages 23 and 24. Page 23 includes a picture of Steve, who has just fallen in the puddle, surrounded by two animals with horns on their head. Collier explained how Steve was hornless and drenched. She draws another arrow to the word "drenched" and simply explains it writing "that means really wet" (23). She also includes some little speech bubbles from the two animals saying "Still no luck with the horn. Huh?" (23) and "Too bad. It was really exceptional" (23). On page 24, Collier explains how Steve is becoming upset because all his friends had special things strapped to his head and he didn't. Then, Collier adds some humor to the page by drawing an arrow to the picture of Steve and writing "Uh-Oh. Here come the waterworks" (Collier 24). These simple editions enhance the story and make it fun to read. Aside from the fun and creative captions, Collier also chose the font of her text wisely. The text is large enough to read and is in a font that is easy to read. One special tough she added was Steve's name. Collier also chose to make Steve's name different than the rest of the text, highlighting that he is exceptional. She uses a swirly cursive font to write Steve's name throughout the story.  Collier's creative use of text makes her book stand out from the others, and makes it exciting and enjoyable to read.

Another wonderful feature of Collier's picture book is the illustrations. Collier herself illustrated this book and filled it with creative black and white, pen and ink drawings. These creative illustrations are present on each page and help add to the humorous story. Pages 10 and 11 are two excellent examples of how Collier used her illustrations to help tell the story. These two pages show Steve going around to all of his friends and showing them his new horn. Collier chose to add footprints to show Steve's movement from animal to animal. In each picture, the reader also notices Steve's horn slipping down as it falls below his neck. Collier's illustrations are simple but are fun and imaginative. Her illustrations correspond with the text and help young readers understand what is happening in the story. 

The theme embedded in Collier's book is an important one for all young children. This book teaches children about being exceptional, as well as taking pride in being yourself. It teaches young children that everyone is special in their own way. It is important that picture books teach young children important lessons that they can incorporate into their lives. A Horse Named Steve does just that. The story teaches children about the importance of accepting one's self and being an individual in a fun and exciting story about a horse wearing a golden horn. This theme is evident throughout the entire story there are even questions throughout the story that make the reader think about how Steve feels when he is not like the others.   

Kelly Collier's new picture book A Horse Named Steve, is an excellent example of a creative story. Collier's use of simple drawings, humorous text, including speech bubbles, and an important theme make reading this book an absolute delight! Collier's book makes children feel like they are part of the story because of her use of questions and creative writing. Children of all ages will enjoy hearing the story of a silly horse who wants to become exceptional and will learn important lessons along the way. 

Review by Julianna Larkin