In Defense of Picture Books

So I’ve titled this blogpost “In Defense of Picture Books,” because I think picture books need defending. To be clear, I don’t think that there’s anyone actively combating picture books. I strongly suspect that the number of people with a personal vendetta against this genre is very, very low. But I do think that picture books are often overlooked and that people tend to dismiss them too easily without appreciating how wonderful these books are. So I’ve decided to do a video talking about how great picture books are.

But first, a brief history of picture books.

The origin of picture books can be found in medieval illuminated manuscripts. Often religious works, these manuscripts are when we first see bound books that have pictures in them. Then in 1658, the first illustrated children’s book is published. Titled Orbis Pictus (or Visible World in Pictures), it was written 
by Czech educator John Amos Comenius. Originally in Latin and German, the illustrations were woodcuttings and the book was similar to a children’s encyclopedia.

Also in the 17^th century, we have John Locke, the British philosopher. His views, especially his book Some Thoughts Concerning Education (published in 1693) influenced how the western world viewed children and their development. Locke believed in tabula rasa (or blank slate), the idea that children’s minds are empty at birth. Lock also thought that children were rational creatures. Therefore, according to Locke, early experience and education were very important. He believed it was imperative for children to enjoy learning and to be engaged in what they were learning. One way for this to happen, he said, is through books. A child should have easy, pleasant books with pictures in them. These type of books should have virtues in them for this is how children can develop from being a blank slate to being a rational adult.

On the other side of the world, during the Edo period (about 1661-1748), Japan had akahon, or “red books.” These were illustrated booklets for children. They were filled with folk tales, fairy tales, and children’s stories. Because these booklets were often a child’s first introduction to literature, they had lots of pictures and easy language.

That said, it wasn’t until the 1800s, that there started to be this concept of illustrated, bound books for children. These books were primarily concerned morals and fables and lessons and nursery rhymes and fairy tales and didn’t have quite the same “story-telling” element we typically expect when we hear the word picture books.

The 20^th century, however, is when we really begin to see picture books as we think of them today. One notable example is Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, published in 1902. And there are several reasons for this.

In the early 1900s there was a lot of social reform going on, and these reforms included the welfare of children. There’s this new emphasis on promoting children’s development and growth.

Additionally, this is around the time when Andrew Carnegie begins to donate money for the construction of libraries. The man Carnegie chooses to oversee this project, James Bertram, has criteria for these libraries. One of which is that these libraries need to have a children’s reading room.

Also, during the 20^th century, two awards for children’s books are introduced: the Newbery Award in 1922 and the Caldecott Award in 1937. These awards bring more prestige to children’s literature.

Post World War II, however, really brings about a boom in children’s literature. With the increase of children being born after World War II, there is a new, large demand for children’s books. While themes of picture books have differed throughout the years, for example, the 1950s saw an emphasis on idealistic picture books while the 1960s had more realistic topics, picture books have remained an integral element of literature.

One really cool benefit that picture books provide is that they help children see that books are not just for grown-ups or that it’s something only adults can do. Books are for everyone, even the youngest among us. Additionally, when someone can’t quite read yet or they are learning how to read, picture books can be a lot more exciting than books that only have words in them. Through picture books, children start to realize that reading can be enjoyable and that book aren’t boring. Picture books also help foster children’s imaginations and their creativity. One great example, is It Looked Like Spilt Milk, which shows how one thing can look like a lot of other things.

Beyond that, picture books also support language and math skills in children.

They not only introduce children with a broader vocabulary and richer language, picture books also provide complex grammatical formats. Or in other words, picture books allow children to become familiar with diverse sentence structures. One example I personally really like is The Mitten by Jan Brett. It does a masterful job of showing complicated sentences.

In terms of mathematics, one area in which picture books help children is with their geometric and spatial reasoning. The pictures often allow children to see certain settings from different angles, as well as see the same scene from a different distance. For example, in Virginia Burton’s book The Little House, we see the house get smaller and smaller the more skyscrapers surround it. Moreover, picture books can help with addition and subtraction. In Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey, children are introduced to the idea that if you have a collection of objects, but then you take some of these objects out, you have less and, if you take all of them out, you can end up with nothing. Also, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown has a line that says, “Goodnight nobody,” which presents this idea that nothing (or zero) can exist.

Picture books also help children start to be able to identify sequence and these books help them build their predictive and inference skills. The pictures aid them in figuring out what is going on in the story and what might happen. Many picture books have a traditional story structure, a beginning, a middle, and an end. In many pictures books children are beginning to become acquainted with Act 1 of a story where the reader is introduced to the characters; Act 2 where there’s the rising action; and finally Act 3, where we see the climax and resolution. In The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, there’s the beginning where the train breaks down, the middle where the characters stranded and several other trains refuse to help, and the ending when a train finally does rescue the characters.

Another area that picture books help in children’s development is with their social-emotional skills. Because there are pictures in picture books, children can see a variety of people and see different cultures and see different ways of life, which can be much more impactful than simply hearing words spoken to them.

Picture books also present difficult concepts and ideas to children, who might have trouble understanding some of the sadder or unpleasant parts of life. One really great example is Now One Foot, Now the Other by Tomie DePaola. In this book, it talks about a grandfather who has a stroke and is no longer able to engage with his grandson like he used to. This story does a beautiful job of showing children that sometimes bad things happen to our older relatives and our loved ones, but that doesn’t mean that the love we have is gone.

Speaking of loved ones, picture books provide a great way for children to bond with their caregivers. Having brought this up, I do want to highlight that if you as an adult are reading with young children, it is important to be engaged with them and the book. Let them spend time looking at the pictures, allow them to go back to another part of the story, ask them questions. Talk about the illustrations and what’s happening in the story. Engaging with them really helps them to develop literacy skills and it helps bring the adult and child closer together.

Finally, picture books help children know and recognize culture references and common myths and folklore. For those of us in the Western World, or at least in the United States, we’re familiar with the stories of Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk and many of Aesop’s Fables. We know who King Arthur is and who Zeus and Hercules are. Picture books can introduce children to these timeless legends and stories, which increases their general knowledge as well as their ability to engage with the society and culture around them.

And you know what’s really awesome about all these ways that picture books help children? Is that these books, or at least the good ones, they do all of this without being preachy or boring or being painfully obvious with what they’re trying to do or teach. Let’s go back to Blueberries for Sal and how it can help children start to see the idea of subtraction. Robert McCloskey doesn’t say something like, “If you have a bucket of blueberries and you take some of them out of the bucket, there are fewer blueberries in the bucket now.” No, that’s boring. Instead, Sal is eating blueberries out of her mother’s bucket and her mother tells her to run along because otherwise there will be no more blueberries left. It just subtly brings up this concept that taking something away will mean there is less than the original.

This helps highlight just how complex picture books can be. They are often carefully created works of literature. The illustrations aren’t just an afterthought or pictures randomly added to a text. Both text and illustrations are woven together to make a story that’s appealing to children, and often adults, and these books, even if that wasn’t the goal of the author or illustrator, do so much to benefit children’s development and growth.

Picture books aren’t just dry boring textbooks blandly chock full of life lessons nor are they simply pretty plain postcard pictures. They are works of art that can positively change a young person’s life.

I love picture books. I think they’re wonderful and amazing and I hope you do too.

Some Books DO Belong in the Trash

Did you know that books can carry bed bugs? While unlikely, it is possible. In fact, some libraries have specific procedures for what to do when materials are found to be housing bed bugs. Don’t worry, these procedures are made with consultation from pest management and exterminators and other professionals. And don’t worry about using your library for fear of getting bed bugs. It’s highly unlikely to happen and you’re as liable to get bedbugs from the library as you are from almost any other public place.

I bring this up not because I want to increase anyone’s paranoia but because one of my pet peeves is when I hear people complaining about libraries throwing away books. I worked in several libraries over the course of about seven years and one of my positions was working with a collection and acquisition librarian. I can assure you, there are valid reasons for libraries tossing certain books. Besides bed-bugs, books can grow obsolete- how many people really need a 300-page book on VCR repair in the year 2026? When libraries toss books, they aren’t being careless with them nor are they saying they aren’t important. Rather, throwing them away is a much-needed process to ensure libraries are serving their community as best as they can. Although, to be fair, they don’t really just chuck a book into the nearest garbage bin; when they do toss a book, they try to recycle it.

That being said, when libraries do get rid of books, or discard them as it’s often called, there’s a process to it. They’re not throwing away books willy-nilly, there are several factors looked at when libraries decide whether they should keep or remove a book.

Photo: Why do Libraries Weed Their Books?

Library books have a life cycle of sorts to them, and each stage, including the end stage of getting rid of them, is planned out. At the top of the cycle is selection, and that’s choosing what books go into the collection. Say for example, a new Harry Potter book was released. Almost as soon as it was announced that there would be a new Harry Potter book, a public library in a small town would decide to have several copies to meet the anticipated demand. They would then order the books (i.e., acquire them) when they became available for purchase. When the books came in, the books would be sent off to be processed and cataloged. Each one of them needs a barcode and a call number. Additionally, each has to be entered into the online catalog. After that’s done, the books can be put on the shelves for people to check-out and read. As the books go through this process of being checked out, read, returned, and put back on the shelves over and over, they go through wear and tear. Depending on the wear and tear, sometimes the book will have to be mended, like if a couple of pages are ripped out, they can be glued back into the book. Other times, if the wear and tear is more serious then library will get rid of the book, which is a process called weeding. If a book has multiple, suspicious stains and the pages keep falling out even after being glued back in, then the library will throw it away. Sometimes the library will order a new copy of the book to replace the old one if it’s still being checked out regularly. They also might order a similar book, like if a picture book about trucks needed to be tossed, they would just order a more recently published picture book about trucks. Yet other times, the library will simply get rid of the book altogether and not bother to replace it. For example, if a grocery-store romance novel published thirty years ago needed to be mended but it had only been checked out once in the past five years, then the library wouldn’t bother replacing it, especially if they already had other romance novels that were more recently published and were being checked out more frequently.

Wear and tear is a very common reason for throwing away books, however, that’s not the only reason to do so. The American Library Association (ALA) lists these guidelines for getting rid of books, “All materials are considered for weeding based on accuracy, currency, and relevancy. Space limitations, edition, format, physical condition, and number of copies are considered when evaluating physical materials.” (ALA, 2018). Whether or not a book (or books) is determined to be accurate, current, or relevant is largely dependent on the library. Different libraries have different standards for what they deem useful. A public library, serving the general public, is going to need different books than an academic library, which serves students and professors and researchers.

For academic libraries, the ALA says this, “Academic libraries frequently employ a methodology for weeding such as MUSTIE (misleading, ugly, superseded, trivial, irrelevant, or obtained elsewhere) or CREW (continuous review, evaluation, and weeding). The review process may include multiple librarians, faculty outside the library, and/or the library’s dean,” (ALA 2018). When it comes down to getting rid of books in an academic library, outdated information is a big reason for getting rid of books. If someone needs recent information for their research project, it wouldn’t be helpful to have books from ten years ago. So academic libraries will often get rid of these outdated books after consulting others, like faculty in that field. Also, for both public and academic libraries, lack of space is a reason for getting rid of books. As more and more books are published, they require more space on shelves and libraries do not have an infinite number of shelves. One way academic libraries have combatted this issue is to focus more on inter-library loans. Libraries can talk with each other and say something like, “We’ll keep these books and get rid of those books, and you can keep those books and get rid of these books.” If an individual needs a particular book, they can borrow from the library that has it. (Metz and Gray, 2005).

In regard to public libraries, what they often look at is currency and relevancy. If a well-known fiction writer, such as John Grisham, publishes a new book, a public library that serves a town with around 60,000 people might order twenty to thirty copies of the book when it first comes out to meet the demand. However, as time goes on, the books lose their relevancy and won’t be checked out as much. Having twenty-two copies of one book can be excessive, not to mention a waste of precious shelf-space, so the library will look for ways to get rid of all the extras. They’ll likely keep four or five copies and the rest they might try to sell at a library book sale, they might donate some others, they also might recycle some of these books. (Metz and Grey, 2005).

Photo: Why Do Libraries Weed Their Books?

Recycling books is often a last resort. Not every book gets sold at library bookstore and libraries can be limited to where they are able to donate books. For example, public libraries sometimes donate to prison libraries, however, prison libraries cannot accept hard-back books. Other places that libraries donate to have other regulations, like what languages they will accept or what condition. Sometimes the only option is to recycle or even throw away the book. While not every book can be recycled (due to issues like mold or bedbugs), this has been a good alternative to throwing away every book that would need to be discarded. Many libraries will have a recycling bin to toss these outdated or unusable books in and when it gets it filled, off those books go to be recycled, where they might end up being used to make more books.

Photo: Books in the Dumpster by Brewbooks

Just because a library is getting rid of physical books, that doesn’t mean they are getting rid of what’s contained in the book. Several libraries, academic as well as public, have been acquiring eBooks as a way to still have books, but not take up space or deal with dirty ones. While eBooks are still relatively new (only introduced in the late 1990s [Blummer and Kenton 2013]), they have been proving a useful addition to libraries. Both academic and public libraries have found that eBooks are more accessible for their patrons (Gross 2021; Blummer and Kenton, 2013). A library might not keep all twenty-two John Grisham books from earlier, but they can keep a few physical copies and get more as eBooks so there’s still enough for their patrons. This way, they will still have plenty of room on the shelve for when the next John Grisham book is published and they need to order twenty-seven physical copies of those.

At the end of the day, books are not sacred. The information in them might be and there are rare and priceless editions of books. But for the most part, the majority of books, their cardboard spines, their uncoated paper, and their run-of-the-mill ink, the whole physical composition of a book? It’s unremarkable. The physical paper and ink of a book is not an untouchable entity. There are valid reasons for getting rid of them. When library books are thrown away or recycled, it's because they have finished serving their purpose.

Works Cited

Blummer, B. & Kenton, J.M. (2020). A Systematic Review of E-Books in Academic Libraries:

 Access, Advantages, and Usage. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 26(1), 79-109.

Collection maintenance and weeding. Tools, Publications & Resources. (2017, December 29). Retrie

ved, from https//www.ala.org/tools/challengesupport/selectionpolicytoolkit/weeding#:~:tex

t=Academic%20libraries%20frequently%20employ%20a,and%2For%20the%20library's%20dean.

Gross, D. A. 

(2021, September 2). The surprisingly big business of library e-books. The New Yorker. Retrieved 

February 21, 2026 from https://www.newyorker.com/news/a

nnals-of-communications/an-app-called-libby-and-the-surprisingly-big-business-of-library-e-books

Metz, P., & Gray, C. (2005). The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 31(3), 273–279.

 

Red Flags in Books

 

The other day I heard about "Red Flags Books," which is the idea that if someone likes a certain book, or considers it their favorite book, or owns a specific book, then that's a red flag. I first came across this concept from the website Dazed's listicle, '10 Books That are Dating Red Flags.' But after doing some googling, I found several other lists exist too, from Buzzfeed to LitHub to GoodRead lists to Reddit posts and there were others as well.

To be fair, I do agree with some parts and some books. If someone says that Mein Kampf is their favorite book or if they highly recommend To Train Up a Child, then that's a red flag. However for the majority of these books I wouldn't think twice about someone owning any of these books or even enjoying them and I find the idea that ownership or enjoyment of these books to be a red flag odd. 

When it comes to simply having a book on a shelf,  I wouldn't assume that someone owning a particular book as a sign that they're endorsing that book or even that they like the book. There are several valid reasons why someone would have a book in their home that have nothing to do with liking the book. 

One: They enjoy annotating their books. Some people find underlining and highlighting and writing notes in their books to be a satisfying activity. And usually to be able to mark up a book, you have to have your own copy. You can't just borrow a book from the library or a friend and then jot down your thoughts in it. Well, you could. But that's just rude.

Two: It's easier to go back to a book when you own it. You can reference it whenever you want. All you have to do is walk over to your shelves and it's there. 

Three: I think it's important to remember that there's been a lot of talk about book bans lately. I'm sure some people are worried they won't have access to a certain book at some point. It might give them peace of mind to have the book just in case. Even if it's a book with questionable material, it can be disconcerting to think that maybe one day some books will be prohibited. 

Regarding there being a red flag because someone likes a particular book, I would say it's important to remember why people read. Usually it's for one of two reasons, if not both. 

One: For pleasure

Two: For understanding or learning.

So if someone is reading for pleasure, or if reading is how they relax, then they might like a book simply it helps them destress. 

Some of the books on these lists were YA and children's novels (a book that frequently popped up was Percy Jackson). Citing reasons like, adults need to outgrow children's books or they want more adult themes in their books, these opinions sound like someone can't grasp the idea that all some individuals want is to read a comfort book. If someone says that Percy Jackson is their favorite book, it might just be because they can unwind while reading it. There is no automatic reason to believe that they don't read any other books or that they've never read anything else or that they like other books (what a crazy thought - you can like more than one book!). 

In a similar vein, one genre of book I noticed came up repeatedly was self-help books. The general consensus was that these books are boring and that they're repetitive. Another complaint was why read more than one self-help book? If they work, you should only have to read one. The problem is that just because you find something repetitive or boring, doesn't mean everyone else does. Also, if someone discovers they enjoy a certain genre, it makes sense that they're going to read other books within said genre. Usually someone reads a self-help book to learn or grow their understanding. It's possible that if someone admires a particular self-help book it might simply be because they think that book helped them a lot.

Here's the thing. Just because someone likes a book, it doesn't automatically mean they think that book is the pinnacle of literature or that that book is going to become a classic someday and be remembered for generations. It could just be that they like that book. 

Moreover it's important to remember we don't have to read nonfiction to learn or to deepen our understanding of something. The beauty of stories is that they can teach us so much about humanity and human nature, even (or especially) our not-so-pleasant characteristics. 

That's part of what makes The Great Gatsby (a book I saw on several lists) so great. It's filled with these vapid, self-indulgent, myopic people. People I would never want to be friends with in real life. Despite this off-putting cast of characters, The Great Gatsby still has this enduring and an almost Ecclesiastes-type thought. You can everything and still feel empty. 

Reading helps us understand uncomfortable ideas and realize unpleasant realities about the world.

Truth can be distressing at times.

And sometimes what makes a book so magnificent is deeply flawed characters committing deplorable actions, because that's reality, even if it is distressing. It shines a light on how we really are.

We were created to be seekers of the truth. One way we can do that is through reading. And in that search we might something we treasure even if it is unpleasant. 

And I think that's necessary to remember: you can find something valuable even if it highlights the disturbing facets of humankind. 

Greatness and the bitter truth are not incompatible. 

New Beginnings and Getting Back into Reading

 To be honest, I haven't been reading as much as I should have. I could list a number of excuses. I've started a new job, I've been busy with our dogs, there's been some family stuff. But, considering that I've still found time to scroll through Facebook and TikTok, I don't really have much of an excuse. In general, I've felt that I haven't been doing as much as I should have. 

In December I wrote out a list of 25 things I wanted to accomplish in 2025. And we're in June now and I've accomplished none of them. Zip. Zilch. Zero. I was feeling down about this and feeling like I was failure. However, instead of dwelling on that and allowing it to keep me in some sort of self-sabotaging loop, I've decided to restart. It's June. It's midway through the year and I'm just going to start now. Who cares that isn't January? I can still get everything done on my list. I just won't finish this December, I'll be finishing next May. And anyway, like that proverb says, "The best time to plan a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." I should have started in January, but I can start now. Since it's 11:50PM at the time of my writing this, I probably won't fully get-going until tomorrow, but that's ok. Let's do this. 

Black Gold by Marguerite Henry

     Growing up, my California-dwelling family would visit my Philadelphia-residing grandparents every summer. While out there, we would usually venture on some excursion, Amish country, Niagara Falls, we would take a mini-vacation while on vacation. One summer we went to Chincoteague Island. My family had read Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry that year and were inspired to see the real life location of this story. 

    Now I'll be honest. Twenty plus years later I don't remember much of the trip (I do remember that I had a good time and the I thought the water very pretty) nor do I remember much of the book. I do know know however, that I liked he book enough for it to influence our mini-vacation. And even though I couldn't remember anything of the book, I do remember enjoying it. So when it came time to create my "To-Read List of 2025," I decided to include a couple of Marguerite Henry's books. The first Marguerite Henry book on my list was Black Gold. Unlike Misty of Chincoteague, I had never read Black Gold before. I was excited to revisit Marguerite Henry's works and I ended up finishing this book in one afternoon. 

    To be fair, it's not a long book, about 176 pages, but despite it's small size, it's still a great story about a racing horse name Black Gold. It starts off with the story of Black Gold's "dam" (or mother), U-See-It. Al Hoots, a rancher living in Oklahoma who already owned several thoroughbreds, spies U-See-It at a fairgrounds racetrack. he immediately sees something in this filly and trades 80 acres for her. It turns out to be a good bargain. U-See-It wins race after race. She travels around racing, making Al Hoots proud. But it takes a team to take care of such an important horse like U-See-It. Along with Hoots, there's his friend Hanley Webb. A former county sheriff with neither wife nor children, Webb is in charge of training U-See-It. Webb employs a man named Chief Johnson to exercise U-See-It. With this team, U-See-It is a star on the circuit. 

    While U-See-It is traveling the circuit, a boy named JayDee is growing up in New Orleans. He loves horses and every chance he gets, he is around these animals, riding them, taking care of them, watching them. His dream is to be a jockey and he is not going to let any obstacle deter him from this dream. Despite the death of this father at a young age and subsequently having to enter the work force, JayDee becomes a skilled horse-rider. 

    U-See-It, meanwhile, also comes into some trouble. After she wins 34 races, Al Hoots's wife, Rosa Hoots, want U-See-It to retire. She, like her husband, loves U-See-It and would like to see this little mare come home and rest. But Al Hoots thinks she has one last race in her. Unbeknownst to Rosa, he signs U-See-It up for another race. And this is no ordinary race. It is a claiming race. In a claiming race, all the entered horses are available for sale and that includes U-See-It. However, everyone knows of Al Hoots's love for U-See-It and how much she means to him. So Al Hoots enters her under a gentlemen's agreement that says the U-See-It is not actually for sale. Unfortunately an unscrupulous individual breaks this unspoken understanding and claims U-See-It. Hoots refuses to let his beloved horse go and  brandishing a gun, he threatens the man who has come to claim her. The claimer backs off but it comes at a bitter cost. U-See-It can no longer race and all of her previous wins and times will be revoked. It will be like she has never existed. Hoots, although comforted by the fact he can keep U-See-It, is despondent at the fact that U-See-It will be stripped of her former glory. He returns home to tell Rosa the unhappy news. However he comes up with a plan. He will breed U-See-It and he will train her foal to not only race, but to win the Kentucky Derby, one of the most prestigious horse races. Rosa, Webb, and Chief Johnson are on board. All they need to do is raise the money to send U-See-It to be bred. Unfortunately Al Hoots dies before they can breed U-See-It. But his wife is determined to fulfill his dream. Because of an oil boon in Oklahoma, Rosa is able to afford to send U-See-It to be bred by Black Toney, an accomplished breeding stallion. Together they have a foal who Rosa names Black Gold in honor of his sire and and because of the oil that funded the money to breed U-See-It. When he's old enough, Black Gold is trained by Webb and Chief Johnson just like his mother. He starts his life on the circuit and is noticed by a new jockey named JayDee.

    JayDee spots Black Gold in New Orleans and is instantly smitten by this horse. He promises himself that he will someday race Black Gold and not just in any race. He will race Black Gold in the Kentucky Derby and they will win. He approaches Webb to see if he can ride her. Webb initially rebuffs JayDee but over time, he agrees to let JayDee ride Black Gold. They train together and Black Gold starts winning races. Finally they are ready for the Kentucky Derby. 

    Although JayDee and Black Gold withstand tribulation during the race, they triumph and win the Kentucky Derby. Black Gold is thrust into stardom and Webbs decides to enter him into race after race after race, with no respite. JayDee protests, saying that Black Gold needs to rest. He notices that Black Gold has a crack in his hoof and insists that the winning horse has the surgery necessary to correct this issue. But Webb refuses. He doesn't want to stop Black Gold's wining streak. JayDee objects to racing Black Gold while the horse is in pain. He and Webb argue over the matter and JayDee leaves. However Webb does promise he will get Black Gold the surgery after a while. When JayDee returns to check on Black Gold, he learns that Webb lied and never got Black Gold his surgery. Disgusted, JayDee cuts ties with Webb. 

    Black Gold still races though and during one of his races his leg snaps. He carries on in the race and completes it on "three legs and a heart." Tragically however, there isn't anything anyone can do for him and Black Gold is euthanized that day. 

    When JayDee hears the news, he is angered at Webb and saddened by the death of the horse he had loved so much. Although he comes to forgive Webb, he never forgets the magnificent horse he felt such a connection to.

    In the afterward, Marguerite Henry tells us there is now a race called Black Gold Stakes, named for this fearless horse and at the end of the race, the winner places flowers on Black Gold's grave. She also tells us that this books is based on real events and real people

    Black Gold was a real racehorse who won the Kentucky Derby in 1924. JayDee, John James Mooney, was a real jockey and he did race Black Gold in the 1924 Kentucky Derby. Rosa Hoots was a real woman, and was, in fact, the first woman who both owned and bred a Kentucky Derby winner. Al Hoots was a real man and he did trade acreage for U-See-It. He did enter U-See-It in a claiming race (although possibly unknowingly). He did refuse to give her up when claimed, although accounts differ on how exactly it all went down. However what is certain is that he and U-See-It were banned from ever racing again. Hanley Webb did train U-See-It and Black Gold. What happened to Black Gold in his final race really did happen and it was because of his split hoof. Overall, the story is fairly true to life.

    This is why I really wanted to to revisit Marguerite Henry's works. Because she creates these emotional stories that are also accurate. I learned a lot about horse-racing and the Kentucky Derby. I learned about this valiant horse who won in 1924 and his determination until the very end. And I didn't just learn from this book. After reading Black Gold, I wanted to find out more about this horse so I did some research and discovered so much more information and history about his story (some of which is included in the previous paragraph). 

    It is a really good book and I would recommend it. It not only is a poignant glimpse into the world of horse training and the Kentucky Derby, but also into the relationship between man and beast. We see Webb push Black Gold to his detriment and ultimately his untimely death. Webb feels isolated with no wife and no children and tries to bury his loneliness by keeping himself preoccupied with Black Gold, even though he ignores Black Gold's needs. He fears dying with no legacy, nothing or nobody to remember his name. It's clear he knowledgable about training horse and he's determined and driven to keep winning but his fear and loneliness overrides any affection or love he has for Black Gold. 

    On the other side it's obvious that JayDee loves Black Gold (and horses in general). He refuses to ride Black Gold when the horse is in pain, even though it means JayDee misses out on making a lot of money. However, one could potentially argue that he abandons Black Gold when Black Gold needed someone to intervene on his behalf. What would have been Black Gold's gate if JayDee had stayed?

    When all is said and done however, it was Webb who pushed Black Gold and ignored any and all appeals for his care. Webb was so intent on making his mark that he neglected the very thing that was going to help him achieve that goal. And in the end, it was Black Gold who paid the price. 

Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

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Here are some websites that go more into the story of Black Gold. I also recommend checking out the Wikipedia articles about Black Gold and JayDee. 

Here's a link to an article about Black Gold from the Kentucky Derby museum website. 

Here's a link to an article about Black Gold from Daily Racing Form, a newspaper about horse racing and horse betting.

Here's a link to an article about a non-fiction book about Black Gold from America's Best Racing, whose goal is to spread awareness about thoroughbred racing.

Here's a link to an article about Black Gold's story. It seems to be very well researched.

And here's a link to a short article that talks about Rosa Hoots.