Thanks to my old employer–The Oxford American magazine–for these nice words (and the only time I’ll be compared to Patrick O’Brian) about my first book, A Horse of Her Own. “The Southern Magazine of Good Writing” is a worthy institution and has a beautiful new website definitely worth exploring.

The praise of a librarian is just about the highest praise of all … and since my mother used to be a children’s librarian, that adds to the warm fuzzies. Here is what the Children’s Room of the Manhattan (Kansas) Public Library had to say about Little Prince, which they’re recommending on their Bookworm Buddies blog:

It’s a gem of a horse story, laugh-out loud funny and exciting. If you’ve ever loved a horse, this book will touch you.

Thanks, lovely librarians!

Today’s Louisville Courier-Journal has this shoutout for the new books. The C-J did a nice interview with me last year, when A Horse of Her Own came out, that Tuesday’s Horse has kept online here.

It’s really wrong that that’s what I titled this post. Apologies and many thanks to School Library Journal for this wonderful review of Wild Blue:

A modern-day adventure that reads like an exuberant nature journal, this novel will grip readers from start to finish. Named because of her coat, which is “the color of rain, of water over rocks,” Blue lives with her family in a remote and rugged swath of Idaho wilderness where humans seldom venture. In fact, the very existence of the herd is only a legend among locals. When two ne’er-do-well cowboys capture Blue and her gentle half sister Doe, the mustangs are taken far from their herd and the freedom they’ve always known. Missing their family and not knowing anything about human ways (not even recognizing a rope), they encounter a range of human behavior after their first terrible experience. Blue ultimately escapes captivity and connects with a Nez Perce boy and his family, whose ancestors bred Appaloosas. Deftly and tenderly, without being overly sentimental, Wedekind describes the subtleties of horse instinct and communication. Horse fans and animal lovers will embrace this book with unbridled enthusiasm. It deserves a place next to Marguerite Henry or even Jack London on young readers’ bookshelves.–Madeline J. Bryant, Los Angeles Public Library

Bless you, Madeline J. Bryant, and all who sail in you.