The Project

Underwritten by a grant from the American Library Association Carnegie-Whitney grant program, the purpose of this project is to research, select, compile, and annotate a bibliography of horse stories from different cultures and ethnicities. Access to this information is provided through a web-searchable database.

The searchable database is designed to broaden reading options for young adults (primarily for grades 5 – 10). Future additions will include children’s literature (pre-K through 8 years of age) as well as learning activities that are tied to educational standards. Titles that are readily available at libraries and via interlibrary loan (as opposed to rare books).are included.

It is hoped that this project will broaden the reading options available to young adults as well as to heighten the awareness to authors of the homogeneity of such stories, thereby providing an opportunity to write fiction that is more inclusive as well as diverse.

The immediate impact of this project is to connect young adults interested in reading not only horse stories, but, more importantly, to read stories that represent a wide variety of cultures and ethnicities. In addition, it will provide access to lesser known published stories and folklore that, if not easily accessible, may be lost to future generations.