The Glass Horse of Venice

The Glass Horse of Venice by Arnold Zable and Anita Lester (Text Publishing) HB RRP $27.99 ISBN: 9781923058002

Reviewed by Kellie Nissen

Every child has a special toy, a memento or little trinket that they just can’t part with as they grow older. Whatever it is carries special memories and ignites the imagination of a cherished time, place or person.

For me, that little trinket was a palm-sized ceramic bell with an owl on the top, given to me by Mrs Wilton, a staff member at my primary school, when I graduated.

For Claudia, in Arnold Zable and Anita Lester’s beautiful picture book, The Glass Horse of Venice, it is a glass horse – Pegasus – given to her by the glassblower whose workshop she visits every day on her way to school. ‘Its wings are broken …’ the glassblower tells her, adding that it holds a secret that will reveal itself if she looks after it. Although Claudia really longs for one of the gorgeous, winged horses she can see in the window, she still thanks the glassblower – and sits her glass horse on her bedroom windowsill.

There is something very magical about Claudia’s glass horse, but she doesn’t notice, such is her longing for a perfect horse, one that is not broken.

One day, floods come to Venice and Claudia’s family must move out of their badly damaged apartment to a town far from her beloved campo. The glass horse is packed away with her other belongings and it is only when Claudia starts to miss Venice that she remembers it – and unlocks its secret.

Arnold Zable has crafted the most poignant story in his telling of The Glass Horse of Venice; a story that celebrates the little things, fond memories and the power of imagination. Anita Lester’s divine illustrations capture the beauty of Venice and draw readers into the magical world created in the glassblower’s workshop and that surrounds the broken glass horse.

Although the story is set in Venice, which will be unfamiliar to many children, the sheer beauty of the words and illustrations will draw them in, and the delight afforded by the smallest of trinkets – broken or perfect – will resonate with everyone, from the target readership of three years and above, right through to adulthood.

I can see The Glass Horse of Venice becoming a firm favourite, a ‘read-it-again’ story and a keeper on the bookshelves of a generation to come.