Jessie Haas
Award-winning Children's Author



Parents' Choice Gold Award

Sweet Reading!

Appaloosas, Belgians, Quarter Horses, Yakut ponies, and a cameo appearance by Xenophon!

History of horses in poetry

Books for Newly Independant Readers


Gryphon Award Honor Book

BIRTHDAY PONY
RUNAWAY RADISH
RUNAWAY PONY (paperback)

Welcome to my website!


"...a thrilling ride."
New York Times Book Review

A Junior Library Guild Premier Selection
Kliatt (starred review)says, "(Haas) really outdoes herself with this one. Scary and challenging...This is fine historical fiction, with suspense on every page and a courageous young man who is quite a hero.
ALA Booklist says, "Haas writes gracefully and evocatively of boy, horse, and desperate men...a thrilling tale with many opportunities for discussion.
SLJ says, "...the story moves at the same fast pace as the horse and unknown rider...Dialogue and characterization are tops here."
Kirkus says, "...the action and nuanced writing carry the reader pell-mell to a wholly believable end. Haas's best yet for older readers."

Welcome to my website. If you like horses or reading--or both!--you should be happy here. I've written horse books for all ages; historical novels; contemporary novels; nonfiction; poetry. I was first published in 1982. Maybe you grew up on books like KEEPING BARNEY. Maybe you're starting to raise or teach another generation of horse lovers. If so, I'd love to hear from you.
Or maybe you're teaching beginning readers. If so, I hope you'll look at the pony series--RUNAWAY RADISH, BIRTHDAY PONY, JIGSAW PONY. They're winning awards for transitional fiction, and best of all, stories are coming back to me. "This was the first chapter book my child read from start to finish."
Or the librarian who told me of the fourth-grade boy who came to her one day, hugging RADISH. "I never thought I could learn to love to read," he said, "and then I found my Radish." We both had tears in our eyes, in the middle of the grocery store.
If you want to quiet a room full of kids, read aloud the first chapter of FIRE! or CHASE, and hear them start to hold their breath (the ultimate thrill for an author). If you don't want to cry in public, DON'T read the second chapter of UNBROKEN. If you want a liesurely canter through the byways of history, read HOOFPRINTS. If you want to handle horses so you don't hurt them and they don't hurt you, read SAFE HORSE, SAFE RIDER.
And then get in touch. I'd love to hear what you think.

Quick Links

E-mail me
www.michaeljdaley.com
www.jessiehaasbooks.com
Authors Guild

BOOKS

nonfiction
SAFE HORSE, SAFE RIDER
A guide to handling horses so you don't hurt them and they don't hurt you.
Novels
SHAPER
A novel of love and dog-training; a Golden Kite Honor Book
UNBROKEN
Harry and her young horse are orphaned in the same accident, and sent to live on a hill farm with stern Aunt Sarah. Can Harry train the wild colt and return to school? And can she and Aunt Sarah ever love each other?
Picture book
SCAMPER AND THE HORSE SHOW
A horse show, two girls, the perfect costume for costume class--but can Molly and Anna keep their white horse Scamper clean long enough? Illustrations by Margot Apple
Picture Book
APPALOOSA ZEBRA; A HORSE LOVER'S ALPHABET
"When I'm older, I'll have a horse farm. All kinds of horses will live with me. Spotted Appaloosas. Arabian steeds" Illustrations by Margot Apple
SUGARING
Gramp and Nora make maple syrup, and Gram makes a surprise Nora can share with the horses. A story about the sweet science of maple sugar. Illustrations by Jos. A. Smith
Poetry
HOOFPRINTS; HORSE POEMS
Six million years of the history of horses, in a hundred-plus poems; a VOYA Poetry Pick.
Transitional Chapter Book
JIGSAW PONY
Jigsaw is the perfect pony for twins Kiera and Fran--but can they stop arguing about him?
BIRTHDAY PONY
Popcorn and Jane were born the same day. Popcorn was a pony foal who belonged to Grandma Aggie. Jane was Grandma Aggie's grandchild." They're meant for each other, but this star-crossed pair has many obstacles to overcome. Illustrations by Margot Apple.
RUNAWAY RADISH
First Radish trains Judy. When she outgrows him, this good-bad pony trains Nina. But then Nina outgrows him too. Can Radish find a home where he'll always be the right size?


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