The Carousel Horse
Tony Mitton and Penny Neville-Lee
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

This is an enchanting story of a fairground merry-go-round horse that longs for adventure.
One night when the people have all left and the horse expresses a desire to fly to the moon, there appears before him a shimmery princess who tells him to let go of his fear and make his wish. Having done so, with the princess on his back the horse rises up, up far above the fairground eventually coming to land on the moon. From there they stand and look around admiring the beautiful colours of the distant earth. They then return to the world below and set forth to explore: they visit places high and low, hot and cold;

they watch dolphins leaping and swans swimming. No matter where they go, though the horse feels the need for a sense of purpose, a place where he belongs. So, at the princess’s suggestion, he returns from whence he came,

thereafter providing the fairground visitors fun aplenty, but safe in the knowledge that at full moon time should that urge arise, a wish will see him and the princess reunited, ready to take another magical journey together..

Told in perfect rhyme, this tale of wish fulfilment and finding where you truly belong is a joy to share: observant readers/listeners will notice that the painted scenes atop the carousel and the animals below that provide the rides – rabbit, dolphin, squirrel, swan, frog are all encountered in the dreamtime journeys so magically depicted in Penny Neville-Lee’s scenes.