OUT OF THE VALLEY OF HORSES

An Australian family sets off on an adventure and gets stranded in an enchanted valley for seven years.

Honey lives with her Nanna, Momma, Papa, and younger brother, Rumi, in the valley of the horses. They arrived on Honey’s fourth birthday, and now her eleventh is approaching, and her father is sick. Honey decides she’ll be the one to find an ambulance for Papa, even if it means heading back to “the wide world,” which they originally left because of a “terrible sickness.” Nanna’s grandfather said that he lived in a valley of magical horses for seven years when he was a child. Now Moongold, one of the special horse protectors of the valley, helps Honey find her way across the bridge the family originally used when they arrived (though Honey worries it might disappear, separating her from them forever). Each chapter ends with a text message from the family members left behind, enabling readers to piece together the situation and understand more than Honey does. Once Honey leaves the valley, the perspective shifts between her and Rumi as their storylines converge. Reminiscent of fairy tales and fish-out-of-water tales such as Brigadoon and Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Running Out of Time, this speculative story has a just-right mix of fantasy and reality, excellent descriptions of the settings (both enchanted and realistic), and a strong main character with an important quest. Honey and her family read white.

A beautifully executed, fantastical what-if tale for right now.