HORSES

Well-conceived, beautifully presented horse books abound, so surely there’s no need to sacrifice trees for this one, which reads like a poorly organized encyclopedia article, except that encyclopedias rarely make so many mistakes. Horses teeth do wear down, but they also keep growing, so they get longer, not shorter, as the horse ages. Bays and chestnuts are not types of brown horses. Thoroughbreds are a type of hotblood, but a polo pony is not necessarily a Thoroughbred. In the photo of the Amish woman, whatever she’s driving, it isn’t a plow. And so on. All minor points, but they abound, and combined with the stilted writing, add up to the impression that Simon knows very little about horses at all. The photos look like a standard horse calendar. Don’t bother. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-9)