If you know a horse-loving kid, chances are he or she will be enchanted by Libby of High Hopes (Paula Wiseman Books, 2012) by Elise Primavera.

This quiet, lovely, early middle-grade novel tells the story of Libby, a girl who’s constantly being encouraged to live up to her potential. But that’s hard to do when Libby’s biggest love is horses, but her family only has enough money for one set of lessons and they go to her older sister.

Libby tries to learn on her own. She volunteers at the stable and makes friends with the horses there, an older client and one of the owners. She draws pictures of horses, watches her sister’s lessons and tries to pick up pointers.

But it isn’t easy seeing her sister get what Libby really wants. Especially since Libby knows her sister doesn’t value it as much.

And especially since — on top of everything else — one of Libby’s friends isn’t acting much like a friend anymore, but Libby’s mother is insisting Libby should still be friends with her and stay on the swim team, which Libby hates. And there’s this horrible princess spa party Libby is definitely too old to attend but has to anyway.

Whew!

What’s a girl to do? Let’s ask today’s guest reviewer, Olivia, who often goes by Livvy. She found a lot of parallels between Libby’s life and her own.

Take it away, Olivia!

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Today’s reviewer: Olivia

Age: 10

I like: Animals. Being on the swim team. Reading Harry Potter.

This book was about: A girl named Libby who loves drawing horses. Then, she finds a horse farm and she starts going there a lot.

The best part was when: Libby found out she got to take riding lessons on Princess.

I laughed when: Libby’s mother said, “Libby! Take the dog for a walk!!!”

I was worried when: Emily was at the horse show, and she was about to jump over a huge fence with her horse, Benson.

I was surprised that: Libby’s sister wanted to go to the farm.

This book taught me: To never give up.

Other kids reading this book should watch for: The part when Libby sees the horses for the first time.

Three words that describe this book: “Awesome.” “Horse-related.” “Cool.”

My favorite line or phrase in the book is: “No. It wasn’t fair.”

You should read this book because: You can make a lot of connections with Libby’s life.

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Thank you, Olivia!

If you’d like to learn more about Elise Primavera, you can: