In Creaky Acres, by Calista Brill and Nilah Magruder, Nora is upset at having to move. She’ll miss her riding lessons and her friends at the barn where she boards her horse. She’s a dressage champion, but her parents are moving her out to the country, where things are a bit more casual. And they don’t care much about competition events.
The new riding school, Creaky Acres, has possums everywhere and a ragtag group of riders. Nora doesn’t fit in, but it’s for more reasons than just that she’s the only Black girl there. (Although there’s an elegantly short sequence of the various racist actions she’s subject to at her new school, without anyone else realizing that’s the problem.) One of the horses might be a mule, and there’s a goat that roams around, and a cow. Nora isn’t coping well with the group’s lackadaisical approach to rules and guidelines.
The book is beautifully illustrated, with expressive characters and animals as well. It’s always clear what people are feeling and what motivates them, as well as the art giving a great feel of the setting. The characters are diverse and great fun to spend time with. The book falls into the framework of “city person comes to rural area, learns to appreciate wacky individuality,” but the country kids also learn from Nora.
I loved seeing her make friends, and the twist in the final third surprised me. It’s also refreshing finding out how and why Nora enjoys the competitions — in many books, it would be about the need to win, but here, the emphasis is on cheering for others and enjoying the routines. Operating within an environment of rules and set procedures can be reassuring for a young person facing the uncertainty of the bigger world, and the message that going to events with your friends can be fun, regardless of outcome, is encouraging.
“Horse girls” will obviously love Creaky Acres, as there still aren’t enough graphic novels about the experience, but based on my experience, even those who find the animals a little intimidating will enjoy seeing how much Nora is capable of.
(Review originally posted at Good Comics for Kids.)
English (US) · 