Muck and Magic

Against an idyllic backdrop of the English countryside, a consummate storyteller and an award-winning artist tell an affecting tale about the power of friendship and creativity.

Twelve-year-old Bonny has always wanted to be a world-champion cyclist, maybe even an Olympic medalist, and her parents have cheered her on all the way. But when a flat tire draws Bonny to a horse farm, her predictable world starts to change. The owner, Lizzie, gives Bonny a job in the stables and shows her a life-size horse sculpture she is making, inviting Bonny to pose as its rider and help in its creation. As Bonny’s sense of her possibilities expands, she starts to understand the meaning of her new friend’s advice: a true gift is never to be wasted—and if you “breathe the world in deep,” you can do anything. With a charming narrative and gorgeous artwork, two of the creative team behind Where My Wellies Take Me pair up again to tell a tale that will resonate with aspiring artists, horse lovers, independent thinkers, and dreaming young minds everywhere.

Michael Morpurgo is an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and a former UK Children’s Laureate. He is the best-selling author of more than 130 books for children. He and his wife, Clare, started the charity Farms for City Children, which runs three farms in Great Britain, each offering children and teachers from urban primary schools the chance to live and work in the countryside for a week. Michael Morpurgo lives in Devon, England.

Olivia Lomenech Gill is the illustrator of Where My Wellies Take Me by Michael and Clare Morpurgo, which was short-listed for the Kate Greenaway Medal, as well as J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Olivia Lomenech Gill lives in Northumberland, England.