Bob Lemmons is famous for his ability to track wild horses. He rides his horse, Warrior, picks up the trail of mustangs, then runs with them day and night until they accept his presence. Bob and Warrior must then challenge the stallion for leadership of the wild herd. A victorious Bob leads the mustangs across the wide plains and for one last spectacular run before guiding them into the corral. Bob's job is done, but he dreams of galloping with Warrior forever to where the sky and land meet.
This splendid collaboration by an award-winning team captures the beauty and harshness of the frontier, a boundless arena for the struggle between freedom and survival. Based on accounts of Bob Lemmons, a formerly enslaved person,
Black Cowboy, Wild Horses has been rewritten as a picture book by Julius Lester from his story "The Man Who Was a Horse" in
Long Journey Home, first published by Dial in 1972.
Julius Lester was a celebrated author whose accolades include a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Award. He was also a National Book Award finalist, a National Book Critics Circle nominee, and a recipient of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. In addition to his critically acclaimed writing career, Mr. Lester distinguished himself as a civil rights activist, musician, photographer, radio talk-show host, and professor. He taught at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for 32 years.
Jerry Pinkney was one of America’s most acclaimed illustrators. He won the Caldecott Medal, five Caldecott Honors, five Coretta Scott King Awards, five Coretta Scott King Honors, five
New York Times Best Illustrated Awards, the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Society of Illustrators’ Original Art Show Lifetime Achievement Award, and many other prizes and honors. His long list of celebrated titles includes
Mirandy and Brother Wind, The Little Red Hen, The Little Match Girl, and
The Lion & The Mouse. His family includes a number of acclaimed children's book creators: his son, artist Brian Pinkney; his daughter-in-law, author and children's book editor Andrea Davis Pinkney; and his granddaughter, author-illustrator Charnelle Pinkney Barlow.
