Book Review of A Horse’s Story
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The Children’s Book Review
A Horse’s Story
Written by Teresa Sementa
Illustrated by Tessie Ballou
Ages: 3+ | 24 Pages
Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing (2025) | ISBN: 979-8-89617-483-7 (Hardcover) / 979-8-89617-482-0 (Digital)
What to Expect: Friendship, birthday celebrations, patience, farm animals, sound play and rhythm, surprise parties, family.
A picture book about a horse named Trey who, on his birthday, can’t find anyone on the farm willing to play with him—until a surprise party proves his friends had good reason to lay low all day.
Trey the horse lives on Piaget Farm, where his one goal each day is simple: play. But on this particular day, every animal he visits—May the Cow, Kay the Sheep, and Ray the Pig—insists on lying around instead, sending him off with the same refrain each time. Dejected, Trey makes his way to Farmer Clay to vent his frustration, only to discover there’s a reason his friends have been so hard to pin down. Young readers will enjoy following Trey’s repeated rejections and guessing what’s really going on before the sweet reveal.
A Horse’s Story is a light, chant-like read-aloud built for very young children (toddler to early elementary), especially useful for caregivers or speech-language professionals looking for a text rich in repetition and sound play. The author’s background as a pediatric speech-language pathologist shows clearly in the construction, as the narrative leans entirely on one repeated sound family: the long “ay” sound threaded through character names (May, Kay, Ray, Clay, Trey) and a recurring dialogue tag (“Go bother [Name] with your day to day!”). That device gives the prose a strong oral, chant-like rhythm well-suited to reading aloud, and the animal names were clearly chosen to reinforce it—a nice fit for the read-aloud-quality and sound-play criteria for younger readers. The emotional arc is simple but genuine, and the birthday-surprise structure lands a clear, satisfying payoff.
The illustrations are bright, simple, and farm-themed, with clean digital art depicting the barn, pastures, and animals in a friendly, uncluttered style appropriate for younger readers. The book also includes a distinctive back section showing the hand-drawn character and scenery sketches by Tessie Ballou Sementa that inspired the final illustrations—this sweet personal touch gives the book a family-project feel.
A Horse’s Story will most appeal to families who enjoy playful, sound-driven prose stories and to parents seeking a gentle “everyone needs rest sometimes” birthday surprise story for read-aloud time.
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About the Author
Teresa Sementa is a mama, wife, dog lover, and is lucky to live “down the shore” in New Jersey. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rutgers University in 2014 with a major in linguistics and a minor in education. She then earned her master’s degree in speech-language pathology from Kean University in 2018. Teresa specializes in myofunctional disorders, motor speech disorders, speech sound disorders, and expressive language delays. She is also a certified kids yoga and mindfulness instructor and adjunct professor at Monmouth University.
Writing a book was never a goal of Teresa’s until this rhyming story popped into her head one morning. Coupled with her daughter’s artwork, she thought it was a fun read that could also be used as a therapeutic tool in her speech therapy sessions. Teresa and Tessie are so excited to share this special story!
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