About the author
Mary Calhoun published her first children’s book, Making the Mississippi Shout, in 1957. She has written over fifty children’s books, of which The Horse Comes First is a horse book. Old Man Whickutt’s Donkey is a re-working of a fable by Fontaine, and Cowboy Cal and the Outlaw is an early reader.
Finding the books
All are reasonably easy to find in the USA, though Donkey is on the expensive side. None were printed in the UK.
Links and sources
Terri A. Wear: Horse Stories, an Annotated Bibliography, Scarecrow Press, 1987
Many thanks to Lisa Catz for the photographs.
Bibliography (horse books only)
Cowboy Cal and the Outlaw
William Morrow & Company, 1961, 48pp, illus Frank Nicholas
An early reader. Cal is a cowboy, whose pride and joy is his new saddle. Just when the saddle is broken in and the way he likes it, he is asked to break an outlaw horse. Unfortunately the horse takes off, complete with the precious saddle but without Cal. Cal pursues the horse.
The Horse Comes First
Atheneum, New York, 1974, 188 pp, illus John Gretzer
Randy’s grandfather and aunt have harness racing horses, and Randy goes to spend thesummer with them. There she finds that the horses really do come first.
Old Man Whickutt’s Donkey
Parent’s Magazine Press, New York, 1975, 41 pp, illus. Tomie de Paola
A retelling of La Fontaine’s fable, in which a man, a boy and a donkey are on their way to the miller with a sack of corn. No matter who walks and who rides, they are criticized.