Here are 80 books that The Road to Balinor fans have personally recommended if you like
The Road to Balinor.
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I’ve always been a horse-crazy girl (going on nearly 20 years now)! Horses are excellent teachers and even better friends. They never lie, and they always treat you fairly. I’ve been teaching lessons for the past five years as a PATH Intl. certified instructor, and it’s been such a joy to share my love of horses with others. Here’s to all the great real-life horses in the world that inspire such great books.
I absolutely love this book even though it’s written in British English. It’s a great rags-to-riches, character-driven story that communicates the thrill of eventing. You never know what you’re going to get with horses until you’ve got it. Sometimes the one-dollar horses can be just as great as the six-figure ones. The story will stick with you long after the book is finished!
A thriller set in the equestrian world about making the impossible possible, about reaching the top on a one dollar horse. Fifteen year old Casey Blue lives in East London's grimmest tower block and volunteers at a local riding school, but her dream is to win the world's greatest Three Day Event: the Badminton Horse Trials. When she rescues a starving, half-wild horse, she's convinced that the impossible can be made possible. But she has reckoned without the consequences of her father's criminal record, or the distraction of a boy with melty, dark eyes, with whom she refuses to fall…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
I’ve always been a horse-crazy girl (going on nearly 20 years now)! Horses are excellent teachers and even better friends. They never lie, and they always treat you fairly. I’ve been teaching lessons for the past five years as a PATH Intl. certified instructor, and it’s been such a joy to share my love of horses with others. Here’s to all the great real-life horses in the world that inspire such great books.
It’s probably been 20 years since I’ve read this book, but it’s stuck with me. I love the idea of horses in the wild having secret bonds with humans. The concept of secret names may or may not be something that I’ve tried with my own horses—only they can confirm that for you! This is a great story of the deep bonds that run between horses and people.
The beloved first book in the middle grade Phantom Stallion series about a girl, her horse, and the beauty of the American West returns with a brand-new, stunning cover and bonus material! Perfect for fans of Canterwood Crest and classic horse stories like Black Beauty and My Friend Flicka.
When thirteen-year-old Samantha returns home to her family’s cattle ranch in Nevada, she’s nervous. She moved away two years ago to recover from a bad fall off her beloved mustang, Blackie, and she’s still not sure she can get back in the saddle. She’s having trouble bonding with her new horse,…
I’ve always been a horse-crazy girl (going on nearly 20 years now)! Horses are excellent teachers and even better friends. They never lie, and they always treat you fairly. I’ve been teaching lessons for the past five years as a PATH Intl. certified instructor, and it’s been such a joy to share my love of horses with others. Here’s to all the great real-life horses in the world that inspire such great books.
This book (and series) was amazing before it was a TV show. Do yourself a favor and read. The. Books! Heartland is a powerful story of how horses can help us make sense of loss; additionally, it highlights how horses can help us connect to a deeper part of ourselves. Plus, the herbal knowledge in the books is way better than the TV show, and you might actually learn something your four-legged friends might like rubbed on their noses.
Amy's mother founded Heartland, a place for healing traumatized horses, but Amy, who inherited her mother's skills with horses, must continue her work after an accident on a stormy night kills her mother.
In 1913, a 15-year-old pregnant girl was found dead of apparent suicide. Dr. James Wilson, a new graduate and the first doctor ever to start a practice in this rural town, feels guilty over her death because of his delayed intervention.
I’ve always been a horse-crazy girl (going on nearly 20 years now)! Horses are excellent teachers and even better friends. They never lie, and they always treat you fairly. I’ve been teaching lessons for the past five years as a PATH Intl. certified instructor, and it’s been such a joy to share my love of horses with others. Here’s to all the great real-life horses in the world that inspire such great books.
The pegasi characters in this story are a lot like humans, but they’re also a lot like horses. Their personalities are as unique as their names! I love how this highlights a young animal’s life in a really relatable, playful way that adults can enjoy, too. This book reminded me of the joy of horse foals in real life, but it also made me think a lot about what it means to be true to yourself and your calling.
The first book in a gripping new tween fantasy series about winged horses-perfect for fans of the Warriors, Survivors, and Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. This paperback edition contains bonus content-a short story about Star's beloved friend, Grasswing! Once every hundred years, a black foal is born, prophesied to either unite or destroy the five herds of flying horses that live in Anok-fated to become the most powerful pegasus in all of the land. Star is this black foal. Even though Star has malformed wings that make him unable to fly, the leaders of each herd will take no risks and…
No one would ever describe me as a unicorn. I’m not graceful. My mane of hair is half an inch long. And I rarely (if ever) prance. I’m a donkey in a party hat and that’s perfectly okay with me. But sometimes it can be kinda rough in a world that tells you that you must be gorgeous instead of goofy, fabulous instead of funny. So I love stories that make me feel a little less alone in my awkwardness – that remind me that all of us, from the most beautiful unicorn to the weirdest little goblin, are not quite what they seem.
When Phoebe accidentally rescues unicorn Marigold Heavenly Nostrils from a lifetime of staring at her own loveliness, the two become bonded for life. The graphic novel series gently pokes fun at popular culture as well as its characters’ petty foibles. It’s this generation’s version of Calvin and Hobbes, but with more sparkles and less casual misogyny.
A boy and his dog . . . a girl and her . . . unicorn?
It all started when Phoebe skipped a rock across a pond and accidentally hit a unicorn in the face. Improbably, this led to Phoebe being granted one wish, and used it to make the unicorn, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, her obligational best friend. But can a vain mythical beast and a nine-year-old daydreamer really forge a connection? Indeed they can, and that's how Heavenly Nostrils unfolds.
This beautifully drawn strip follows the unlikely friendship between a somewhat awkward girl and the unicorn who gradually shows…
I’ve always loved fantasy novels, which is why I write them, though I tend more toward epic fantasy. My father had a great love of nature. It wasn’t unusual for him to stop in the middle of building a fence or walking across a pasture in order to examine a bug or watch a hawk in flight. He taught me the value of animals and the wonder of the world we live in. Because of it, I’m especially drawn to stories where the animals act and think like animals really might, so I can imagine their unique perspectives. Every species is unique, a miracle that they exist at all.
Peter Beagle is best known for his fantasy novel, The Last Unicorn, but other than featuring unicorns, this book is unrelated. It’s a beautiful story about thirteen-year-old Josephina Rivera. Her parents don’t have time for her, so she hangs out at a music store, where she is drawn to the music played by a mysterious young boy. This soon leads her across a magical border into a land peopled by unicorns, fauns, and other magical creatures. But the story is about more than mythic animals; it’s a poignant, inspiring tale about life, sacrifice, and the love between a girl and her grandmother. Don’t expect a children’s book. Though kids might like it, one has to have lived a while to fully appreciate it.
A tomboy misfit and born musician, thirteen-year-old Josephine "Joey" Rivera encounters a mysterious young man named Indigo who changes her life, playing ghostly, haunting music that she follows down an ordinary street into the magical world of Shei'rah.
Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977, and Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977. Both began a historic journey with unique 'time capsules' on board intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record 12-inch gold-plated disk…
No one would ever describe me as a unicorn. I’m not graceful. My mane of hair is half an inch long. And I rarely (if ever) prance. I’m a donkey in a party hat and that’s perfectly okay with me. But sometimes it can be kinda rough in a world that tells you that you must be gorgeous instead of goofy, fabulous instead of funny. So I love stories that make me feel a little less alone in my awkwardness – that remind me that all of us, from the most beautiful unicorn to the weirdest little goblin, are not quite what they seem.
Kevin the Unicorn is having a disastrous, non-magical, totally not-sparkly day. And you know what? That’s okay. Uber-talented author/illustrator Jessika von Innerebner’s vibrant illustrations and sparkling prose are a delight. The book gives a playful plug for authenticity in a world where perceptions of people are too often filtered, edited, or curated.
Everyone knows that unicorns are perfect. They are glamorous and glittery, and their smiles make rainbows appear! But Kevin is having a less-than-perfect day. First, he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed . . . on the floor. Then he discovers that his mane is so wild that even his Super-Perfect-Hair-Day-Spray can't tame it. And the day just gets worse from there. Kevin does his best to keep his outlook sunny, but it's hard to keep smiling when everything goes horribly wrong!
When I was writing my first novel, The Garden at the Roof of the World, I tried hard to accurately represent how the unicorn was understood in the medieval world. As my characters transversed Europe, the near east, India, and Nepal, they encountered many people with a strong and abiding love for unicorns. To portray how people understood unicorns, I had to do a lot of research. These books taught me the myths and legends of unicorns that my characters would encounter on their journey. Fans of the novel encouraged the publisher to put out a companion book about unicorns, where I decided to explore the history of the idea of the unicorn from the very real beast that inspired the myths, through the evolution of the myths over time to the present day. I became fascinated, learning how the unicorn was once thought to be the servant of the devil, dragging people to hell. Learning how the Great Khan halted his invasion of India when he was stopped by a unicorn who he believed to be a messenger from the Gods. I even learned that the Sumerian Goddess of Love likened her clitoris to a unicorn’s horn. A far cry from the meek beast that would seek out a virgin.
W.B.J.'s book list on
Why W.B.J. loves this book
This book provides the most thorough review of the literature on unicorns, critically examining primary sources not available to most readers. Highly readable with a wry sense of humor, and presents his scholarly findings in a most legible way.
This work, created in the early 20th century by Odell Shepard, is one of the better works made through time to craft mythology (and cryptozoology of a fashion) together with more modern historical treatments of its subject matter. It is the unicorn (or alicorn) here which concerns the text- and related material ranging from the quite antiquated, to the medieval, and the then-modern as anthropology and adventure made its way further into the outlands of Africa, India, and Tibet.
Here, of note, is an extensive treatment of the purported healing and anti-poison properties of unicorn horn, medieval medicine processing the…
I love mythological creatures! I grew up gravitating toward fantasy books but because I have a narcissistic parent, I got teased for reading them. To avoid the teasing, I ended up reading a lot of mythology because that was a “safe” fantasy option; reading mythology was “educational” rather than “silly.” When I got older, I discovered that there’s a whole category of fantasy books that retell myths from alternative points of view. This subgenre opened new doors of understanding and empathy for me. Reading old stories from new perspectives opens my eyes to a myriad of different types of people and broadens my view of the world. And I’ve been reading them ever since.
A unicorn believes she’s the last of her kind and undertakes a quest to find where the others have gone. This might be my favorite book!
It plays with the fantasy genre in a way that few books can. It seamlessly mixes the whimsical with the mundane and it gives us memorable characters who are unique twists on old tropes.
What I love most about this book is seeing life through the eyes of the unicorn protagonist. She’s a timeless creature—unaging, unchanging—who finds navigating a mortal world to be puzzling, inconvenient, and, at times, terrifying.
Can you imagine being immortal and suddenly being forced to confront your own impossible mortality? Read this book and you will.
Experience one of the most enduring classics of the twentieth century and the book that The Atlantic has called “one of the best fantasy novels ever.”
The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone...
...so she ventured out from the safety of the enchanted forest on a quest for others of her kind. Joined along the way by the bumbling magician Schmendrick and the indomitable Molly Grue, the unicorn learns all about the joys and sorrows of life and love before meeting her destiny in the castle of a…
Deputy Jenna Hart has only been working in her sleepy hometown of Pearl Springs for seven months when city officials begin to be targeted by a killer. Twenty years ago, the construction of a dam caused people to lose their land to eminent domain. That wound has not healed with…
When I was writing my first novel, The Garden at the Roof of the World, I tried hard to accurately represent how the unicorn was understood in the medieval world. As my characters transversed Europe, the near east, India, and Nepal, they encountered many people with a strong and abiding love for unicorns. To portray how people understood unicorns, I had to do a lot of research. These books taught me the myths and legends of unicorns that my characters would encounter on their journey. Fans of the novel encouraged the publisher to put out a companion book about unicorns, where I decided to explore the history of the idea of the unicorn from the very real beast that inspired the myths, through the evolution of the myths over time to the present day. I became fascinated, learning how the unicorn was once thought to be the servant of the devil, dragging people to hell. Learning how the Great Khan halted his invasion of India when he was stopped by a unicorn who he believed to be a messenger from the Gods. I even learned that the Sumerian Goddess of Love likened her clitoris to a unicorn’s horn. A far cry from the meek beast that would seek out a virgin.
W.B.J.'s book list on
Why W.B.J. loves this book
This is a delightful look at how people have searched for unicorns across the centuries. While he starts with a smaller review of the literature of unicorns than Shepard, he shows how early scientists hunted for evidence of unicorns, and what they encountered in that search. Lavers also looks at how herders have created unicorns from cows and sheep in different cultures.
For centuries, unicorns have inspired, enchanted and eluded humanity. The beast appears in the Old Testament and there was a brisk trade in unicorn parts in medieval times, with travellers regularly reporting sightings into the modern era. But by the early twentieth century scientists had conceded that the unicorn never existed. It turns out they were a little hasty.
Where did the unicorn come from, and how was it accepted as a part of the animal kingdom for so long? Chris Lavers argues that although the unicorn of our imagination isn't real, traces of its character can be found in…
