by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 16, 2010

"Out of the blue haze  of evening comes a soft whinny as a mother mare nuzzles her foal." Mustang Canyon opens with the birth of "the little pinto," who wobbles as he tries to stand. Three weeks later he's eating grass, and traveling fast with the mustang heard, led by "the old white-faced stallion" - the herd's master. He's getting tired, but Old White Face follows the smell of water down into a canyon.

There's horses in this book, but also some bright illustrations of the brilliant desert vistas where they roam. Daniel San Souci portrays the majesty of giant red rock formations in the painted desert, and the soft welcoming blue of both sky and water. So though he's drawing horses on every page, his watercolors also provide them with a convincing setting. And he understands the story's appeal, dedicating his illustrations to "all the children who are captivated by wild horses."

Little Pinto drinks deep from the canyon's water, as Old White Face confronts a strange wild stallion at the rim of the canyon. "He screams, lashing out with his sharp hoofs like whip snaps of lightning…and the rogue stallion whirls and flees." But there's an even stranger threat that's approaching the wild herd of horses. The canyon's walls vibrate with the drone of a helicopter - the kind of bplane used for rounding up mustangs!

There's a real-life inspiration for this story, according to author Jonathan London. "When I first saw wild horses, I was on a a white-water rafting trip," he remembers on the book's jacket.. "My heart pounded as hard from seeing the mustangs as from riding the rapids." And in his story, it's the horses whose hearts are pounding - as they're startled by the intrusion of a herd-threatening man!

"The herd is a cloud of dust, pounding through the canyon, and the roar of the engine fills his bones with dread." Little Pinto stumbles, then falls through the air into "the white terror of the river." He thrashes through the icy water to the opposite site of the river. But his parents are waiting for him on the other side, and soon, "Mama Pinto is beside her colt, nuzzling him, nickering, and Little Pinto dances…" There's a handy glossary at the back of the book for horse-related works like sorrel and stallion. But the most important words appear when the pinto's parents have rescued him from the river.

They rejoin their herd - and then gallop off towards the mountain's blue haze.

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