Book Review: I Sea Horses, by Dawn Van Zant


I Sea Horses
From Sky To Sea
Written by Dawn Van Zant
Illustrated by Callan Van Zant
Wild Heart Ranch Books
ISBN: 0-9761768-0-7
Copyright 2004
Paperback
Children’s picture book

Reviewed by Mayra Calvani

How did sea horses come to exist? Could it be that horses on the land, threatened by men and searching for freedom, escaped to the sea?

I Sea Horses takes a magical glimpse into the origin of sea horses. With beautiful, evocative, dream-like illustrations, this is an imaginative, heart-warming story that will delight young and old alike.

Led by the young stallion Pegasus, and with the helped of a magical star, the herd go to the depths of the sea to find peace, freedom and happiness. In the beginning, however, Pegasus encounters much resistance from the herd, for how is a horse, a creature without gills, to survive under the sea?

But Pegasus “told them his dream of things coming to be/When the land would change and they could no longer run free/He did not know when or even know why/But he felt he must turn to the sea or the sky.”

The story is written in lovely lyrical verses, but the language is pretty straight forward, making it easy for the younger child to understand. The language also has a serene, calming quality while stimulating the child’s imagination at the same time.

At the end of the book there is a section about Project Sea Horse and how people can help the survival of these exotic, fascinating, delicate creatures. Children can interact with this project’s website and even purchase the plush-toy, sea horse characters featured in the story.

A picture book that will enchant lovers of horses and sea horses, I Sea Horses comes highly recommended from this reviewer.

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