The Magical Horses: A Fairy Tale for the Young and Young at Heart

Janet Collins is a freelance writer in Sechelt, British Columbia.

Even before the Brothers Grimm published their much-loved stories, fairy
tales were one of the most enduring of all oral and written traditions.
Many tales have regional variations or have been slightly altered over
time; others have been dressed up thanks to the efforts of the The Walt
Disney Company and other businesses that recognize the commercial value
of well-known stories. Occasionally new stories are added to the list of
favourites. It is doubtful that The Magical Horses will be so honoured.

Epp’s tale can be summed up in a single word: tedious. Not only are
several of the images repeated throughout the pages, but so is much of
the text. As a result, readers soon find the characters more annoying
than enduring. Misspellings and proofreading gaffs in the book added to
this reader’s frustration with the text.

The illustrations fail to help matters. There is a mix of media (rice
paper and acrylic on board, watercolour washes over ink and acrylic) and
styles (abstract and naпve/folk art). But Epp appears to doubt her
abilities as an illustrator when she finds it necessary to explain what
the abstract images represent. The arrangement of the full-page
illustrations with a footnote that provides the title of each image, the
medium used, and a description (in the case of the abstract art) works
far better in a gallery catalogue than in a storybook. Not recommended.