Kiki & me
Leo Timmers
Gecko Press

Translated by David Colmer, this amazingly illustrated story is seen through the eyes of a black horse.
Kiki a small girl, takes a shine to the creature immediately the ramp is lowered and the horse revealed. The child cares for the horse, feeding and watering it, keeping it warm, grooming it and more; they even play imaginative games together.
At first the horse is slightly scared of its surroundings but before long the two are going on long rides together and Kiki shares her secrets with her equine companion.

Seasons pass, years pass and then Kiki starts spending lots of time with a new male friend causing the horse to feel lonely and insecure. ‘Maybe Kiki didn’t want me anymore.’ Readers will likely share the animal’s fear of being abandoned. But then along comes Bruno, a companion of the skewbald kind. Moreover, Kiki makes it evident that she still loves the narrator horse: maybe four can be better than two. What do readers think?

Leo Timmers’ exquisite scenes are either black-and-white sequences where each drawing of the horse emphasises its muscular body and these alternate with richly hued, wordless panoramic landscapes executed in acrylics. You don’t need to be a horse-lover to appreciate this poignant book: its stunning illustrations and ‘straight from the horse’s mouth’ story will surely immediately captivate anyone who peruses its pages.