Chasing Painted Horses by Drew Hayden Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The visions of this horse painting are like a portal between the past and the future, the rural reserve community and also the urban setting. I wish that I could see the chalk drawings that Danielle makes to feel the magic that she is creating. I like how this sort of magic isn’t easily revealed to adults and also it’s not strong enough to alter Danielle’s reality.

I am a big fan of Drew Hayden Taylor’s plays especially for the young adult audience so….I was disappointed in the first 60 pages of the book. It’s not until Danielle as a child enters the story that I started to get hooked. I still found the book long, and in need of a harder edit but! There are some important perspectives here about cycles of generational poverty and violence…I love how the kids are really the main instigators and how this isn’t a happy ending. I wonder if the author is holding back on the story between Danielle’s childhood and her fate in the big city…..I hope it means another book is coming to fill in these gaps.

This book is one of the nominees for the Ontario Library Association’s Forest of Reading Evergreen program. I would recommend it for the senior level grades of high school and for all the adults in your library.

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