Inez Hogan

Twin Colts

E P Dutton & Co, New York, 1944, 49 pp. Illus the author

J M Dent & Sons, London, 1947, illus the author.  53 pp.

Reprinted 1958

Silver Cloud gives birth to twin colts, Sniff and Snort. This is the story of
how they explore their world, meet Christine and Christopher, and learn
that being ridden “is more fun than anything.”

Inez Hogan (1895-1973) wrote and illustrated many children’s books, including the Twins series of picture books about a wide range of animals.  Two of the series feature equines: Mule Twins and the later Twin Colts. Twin Colts is set in America: if you object to "I eber done see" type dialogue from the black characters, this is not the book for you, but it is nevertheless affectionately done, and is a charming production. If I'm picking holes, you might also object (I do) to the breaking in of the colts at the age of 2.

Inez Hogan was born in 1895 in Washington, D.C. and was educated at Wilson Teachers’ College, as she planned to fund studying art through working as a teacher.  She did indeed teach, becoming a supervisor of art in the public schools of Washington.  Whilst teaching, she managed to study at Corcoran Art School, the National School of Fine and Applied Art, the Berkshire Summer School of Art, Cape Cod Art School, and George Washington University.  During a 2 year break from teaching, she studied in Paris, but despite her desire to work full time as an artist when she returned, she had to take up teaching again.  It was not until 1927, when her first children’s book, Little Black and White Lamb, was published that she was able to give up teaching.  She wrote and illustrated more than 60 books.  

Finding the book:  Mule Twins can be very expensive indeed, but is not impossible to find at a reasonable price (though the UK Dent printing is extremely tricky to track down). Twin Colts  is much more reasonable.

Sources and links:

Inez Hogan on Wikipedia

Many of Inez Hogan’s papers are at the University of Oregon Library

Some of Inez Hogan’s papers are at the Children’s Literature Research Colllections, University of Michigan

Bibliography: horse books only

Mule Twins

E P Dutton & Co, New York, 1939, 49 pp.

J M Dent & Sons, London, 1947, illus the author.  54 pp.

Cute story, about Mule Twins Stubbornness is the theme of this captivating twin book about Zeke and Zack who kept right on sitting instead of doing what they were supposed to do.