The Sand Horse by Ann Turnbull

The Sand Horse Reviews

• 
  Tanya Srivastava

  
  A lush illustrations and magical story!! A story which keeps you glued and you wait for another page to turn for another magic. A very beautiful story perfect for toddlers who believe in magic.
  
  There was an artist who lived in St Ives, who sometimes made animals in the sand. Mostly he made horses. One fine day he went on the beach, marked out his pitch and started to work. The horse grew. He was galloping horse. Artist worked whole day on his horse, shaping muscles and twisting curl of his mane. He worked until the sun set and went home. The sand horse woke up. He was alive but couldn't move. He heard seagulls, boom and hiss of the sea. The sand horse tried to move but he was fixed in the sand. The sand horse heard the white horse neighing who wanted him to join them. "Come with us." They called. The sea crashed on the shore, flipping spray over the sand horse. A wave broke and flooded the sand horse, drenching his head and mane. The sea sucked and pulled. It was pulling him down the beach, "I am coming!" He cried. A huge wave rolled up the beach. It went hissing back down to the sea, dragging the sand horse with it. He frisked and galloped and swished his tail. They galloped away and next day artist smiled as he knew where his sand horse had gone.
• 
  Rosie

  An artist make sand sculptures, mostly of horses and one day goes to the beach to create a sand horse.
  
  That evening the horse is alive but realises he cannot move. And yet, the white horses (the crashing waves) can and call out for the sand horse to join them. As the sea takes over the land the sand horse is washed into the sea and becomes a white horse who can gallop across the ocean.
  
  The illustrations are lovely and I particular enjoy the images where the sand horse becomes a white horse and the shapes of the waves are shaped as white horses.
• 
  Andy Hickman

  The Sand Horse, Ann Turnbull
  Echoes the Prometheus when a sand sculptor creates a dormant sleeping sand ‘horse’ that is awakened by the ocean waves and sojourns with other ‘white water horses’. ***
  
• 
  Oz

  This is such a lovely book. I recently rediscovered it in my daughter's library and have been reading it to her son. Even at age 3, he is lulled by the beautiful language and images.
• 
  Anna

  A beautiful book for a child and most certainly for the child within us all. A most valuable and enjoyable part of each of us to be nourished and cherished always.
• 
  Mike & Lori M

  Years after reading it to my kids, this remains one of my favorite picture books (along with Grandfather Twilight, Finding Foxes, and Temple Cat).
  The Sand Horse is one of the most humane and uplifting children's books I've seen.
  One thing I don't understand is that in all the reviews I've read, no one mentions that this book is about transcendence and the acceptance of death. I can't imagine loving the story (and illustrations) without making that connection. It should be on the table in every hospice care center where children come to visit.
• 
  The Brothers

  The story of an artist who lives on the beach and occasionally makes figures in the sand (like a sand castle only animals). There is much talk of how the white crests of the waves are horses galloping across the sea.
  
  The illustrations are beautiful watercolor pictures. I loved the deep saturation of the colors.
• 
  Hayley

  I adore this book. This magical tale of horses and the sea has stayed with me since I was a little girl. Because of this book, I sometimes make my own sand horses on the beach and like to imagine them galloping on the waves when the tide comes in to take them away.
• 
  Alice

  2.75 stars I was so excited about this book it started out with a lot of promise and then it fell short for me!! However I would love to see a horse sand sculpture!