AMY ALZNAUER IN CONVERSATION WITH TAYLOR NORMAN

PETALUMA --

We love this book. That's all there is to say. Heartfelt, realistic and compelling, it's not to be missed.

So, what's it about?

Nash Eliza West has been horseless her whole life, and she has one shot to turn things around.

Twelve-year-old Nash is a self-proclaimed cowboy. She sleeps with her riding boots on, takes lessons at the local barn, and reads True Grit for life advice. There's just one thing missing-- a horse of her own.

Enter the Extreme Mustang Makeover contest, a chance to receive and tame a newly-captured mustang for the summer. Signing up will guarantee Nash one hundred days with a horse; and if she wins, she can use the prize money to bring him home for good. It's the miracle Nash has been waiting for.

But Nash's attention is divided when her cousin Benny arrives to stay for the summer. While Nash and Benny were once like sisters, the six years since Nash moved away have driven a wedge between them. Benny is everything Nash isn't: gentle and well-behaved, and Deaf like Nash's parents are. Sometimes she wonders if they'd rather have a daughter like that than a headstrong cowboy CODA like Nash.

A brave girl and a horse no one believes can be tamed: it's a tale as old as time, brought to sizzling new life through Nash's one-of-a-kind voice. Amy Alznauer weaves cowboy bravado, growing pains, and Deaf culture inspired by life in her Deaf-hearing family into a debut middle grade novel that will lasso you tight by the heart.

A gentle story, and underneath it a wild thrumming heart.
--Daniel Nayeri, Newbery Honor-winning author of The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams

This breathtaking triumph of a novel has it all: luminous prose, a gripping plot, and characters you'll love forever. Step aside, Black Stallion. There's a new classic in town.
--Katherine Applegate, Newbery Medal-winning author of The One and Only Ivan

• School Library Journal 07/01/2026 pg. 83 (EAN 9780823462360, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
• Publishers Weekly 07/27/2026 (EAN 9780823462360, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
• Booklist 08/01/2026 (EAN 9780823462360, Hardcover) - *Starred Review

Biographical Note:
Amy Alznauer is the author of several picture book biographies, including The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity: A Tale of the Genius Ramanujan, Flying Paintings: the Zhou Brothers, and The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice: How to Discover a Shape. Her writing has won the Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction, the Christopher Award, and the SCBWI-Illinois Laura Crawford Memorial Mentorship, and her essays and poetry have appeared in collections and literary journals including The Bellingham Review, Creative Nonfiction and River Teeth. She lives in Chicago with her husband and children.