Wearing a bike helmet and rain boots, horse enthusiast Frances (white) arrives for her first riding lesson at her friend Mae’s house with a handful of carrots and high expectations. Right away, the experience is not as she expected. The barn stinks, and Mae’s mom is using a big fork to pick up poop! Snowball, the horse she’ll be riding, is not tall and majestic but small, round, and docile—though she does have alarmingly big teeth. Before Frances rides, there are chores to do: brushing Snowball’s coat, scraping the dirt from her hooves, and fitting her with a saddle, halter, and complicated bridle. When it’s finally time to ride, Frances struggles to mount, and then Snowball steps on her foot! Maybe she doesn’t want to ride anymore. But Mae (brown-skinned) is understanding and patient. She invites Frances to ride double around the orchard with her. It’s relaxing, and soon Frances feels brave enough to try again—and she does it! She rides a horse all by herself. She even feels comfortable enough to scoop a little poop before the day is done. This lengthy picture book is formatted mostly in panels, with plenty of speech-bubble dialogue and oodles of horse-care detail. The disappointment of reality not quite meeting one’s expectations is very relatable. Frances is an endearing character who just needs a moment to get her bearings and gain a little confidence before tackling the challenges of the day with open-mindedness.

Frances loves horses and can’t wait for her first riding lesson. It can’t be all that hard, can it? From the creator of The Camping Trip, this spirited story is for kids who like horses or are trying something new.

Frances adores horses and knows everything about them—at least she thinks she does. But when she arrives at her friend Mae’s house for her first horseback-riding lesson sporting a bike helmet and rain boots, Frances quickly discovers that she might not know as much as she thought she did. Barns are actually a little stinky, and it takes a lot of time to brush a horse and tack it up (what does that even mean?). Not to mention that horses are much bigger in real life, and being so far off the ground can be a little scary! Will Frances be brave enough to ride Snowball all by herself, or will it be too different from what she’s imagined? Jennifer K. Mann’s exuberant story encourages readers to get back in the saddle and reminds them that sometimes reality doesn’t match our expectations—but usually the real thing is better!