Wonder Horse

This is an outstanding book (story and pictures and note/photo in the back) about an ex-slave veterinarian who believed in and taught kindness to animals. A horse he raised from its birth, he taught it to recognize the letters of the alphabet, colors, and do other remarkable things, all through pati......more

Author/illustrator Emily Arnold McCully, who won a Caldecott Medal in 1993 for Mirette on the High Wire, tends to seek out unusual true stories for her picture-book biographies - she retold the tale of Irish woman pirate Gráinne Ní Mháille, in The Pirate Queen, and of inventor Margaret E. Kn......more

This could have been such a great book, but reading the author's note we find the story was greatly exaggerated. "Doc invited a team of professors from Harvard to examine Jim Key and decide if he was really educated. The professors agreed. "You must wait outside while we examine Jim," they told Doc......more

Wonder Horse is a wonderful story about kindness and the power of compassion. In the 1800s, Bill “Doc” Key, a veterinarian and former slave, teaches an orphaned colt, Jim, to perform amazing mental feats such as recognizing letters and colors. The humane education element (on behalf of both humans a......more

Straightforward account of the achievements of Jim Key, called "The World's Smartest Horse." Jim was born with crippled legs but managed to overcome his handicap and learn to walk and trot. When Doc Key, the successful African-American veterinarian who owned Jim, saw the horse's determination, he be......more