About the Author

Russell Hoban is the renowned author of many famous novels, including Turtle Diary and Riddley Walker, which won the John W. Campbell Award for science fiction. He also wrote over 50 children's books, including such classics as The Mouse and His Child, Bedtime for Frances and The Sea-Thing Child. Born in Pennsylvania in 1925, he moved in 1969 to London, where he lived until his death in 2011.

Quentin Blake was the first ever Children's Laureate and is recognized as "a national institution". He is best known for his collaboration with writers such as Russell Hoban, Michael Rosen and, most famously, Roald Dahl. His books have won numerous awards including the the Kate Greenaway Medal and the prestigious 2002 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration. He lives in London.

Reviews

CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK The Sunday Times the expressiveness and zing of Blake's pictures ... are what really do the magical transporting here The Sunday Times An exciting adventure that will entice and captivate. Probably best read with plenty of yummy frozen goodies to hand, RMH has a beautiful hard jacket but a meltingly soft centre! We Love This Book A quirky, delightful story is magically illustrated by this master artist. Perfect for reading aloud or sharing with a class CBI recommended reads of 2012 a wonderful, magical adventure Parents in Touch 'piece of comic genius for kids' and 'every bit as fun to read for grown-ups as it is for its intended pre-schooler audience.' Bath Life It's such a touching, enjoyable story, filled with imagination and gorgeous illustrations, I have a feeling that you will definitely hear 'AGAIN!' at the end of this one. INIS Magazine Quentin Blake's dreamy images of a little girl who rides a horse made of abandoned ice lolly sticks in Russell Hoban's last opus makes Rosie's Magic Horse my Best Picture Book The Times Russell Hoban's enchanting story sets Quentin Blake's prancing lolly-stick horses galloping across cities and jungles and over oceans and deserts on a quest for pirate gold. The Guardian If you like fantastical adventures, this book is for you. Juno an enchanting book New Statesman This collaboration between a late, great storyteller and a living legend of children's illustration is inspired. The Evening Standard This new picturebook by Quentin Blake uses text by Russell Hoban, who died in 2011. It is about a horse made out of ice-lolly sticks that comes to life and flies, enabling a little girl to bring back pirate treasure to her parents, who are inundated with bills. It combines colloquialisms, made-up words - "unvanned", "stickled", "rehorsed"-- and the poetic: "There was wind, there was rain, there were brown leaves blowing." But the expressiveness and zing of Blake's pictures, with detail of a rainy street, kitchen table, child's bedroom, rooftop party in an exotic city, pirates' knees-up, desert with vultures, jungle with parrots and landscape with pink sunset, are what really do the magical transporting here. -- Nicolette Jones The Sunday Times

PreS-Gr 2-Rosie collects discarded ice-pop sticks and places them carefully in her cigar box. When the lid closes on them, they become animated and wish they could become a horse. At bedtime, Rosie takes them out to play, all the while wishing she could find a way to help her parents pay their bills. Instead she finds herself making a galloping horse out of the sticks and falls off to sleep. In her dreams she and a magical stick horse go off in search of a treasure. They finally find a group of pirates playing with their ill-gotten gains, and she and Stickerino bamboozle the thieves and make off with the plunder. When they return, a treasure chest of gold coins awaits Dad at the breakfast table. Hoban makes use of magical realism to create a story in which the ordinary and the extraordinary exist side by side. Rosie is a fine heroine intent only on helping her parents and her cigar-box sticks are eager for adventure. In the end, this is a satisfying partnership for all concerned. Blake's beguiling art has life and movement on every page and invites children to believe that they, too, are on a magical journey where anything can happen.-Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.