Horse and the Little Girl is a story about the beautiful yet short-lived relationship between a dilapidated rocking horse and a child diagnosed with a rare genetic disease. While it may involve a tale of heartbreak, it also provides an inspiring lesson about a higher spiritual love. The book also teaches the virtue of hope and learning to move on after a loss.
The story of Horse and the Little Girl is actually inspired by Johnson’s loss of his own granddaughter to a rare genetic problem known as monochromatic leukodystrophy. This brain disorder causes loss of balance and rapid muscle deterioration.
Writing Horse and the Little Girl was Johnson’s way of coping with his granddaughter’
Johnson notes that death is a simple reality that cannot be avoided, as with the narrative of his granddaughter and the tale of Horse and the Little Girl. He feels that the hand of God is still present even in times of grief. “My concept of God is love. If someone dies and you care, that’s God in action,” he says. “God is always the first to care when someone dies.”
This inspiring and thought-provoking book has not only helped Johnson in dealing with his own grief: Horse and the Little Girl has also been named as a finalist in the 2007 Best Books Awards by USABookNews.com, thus making this book one of the more important titles to read this year.
All of this, because of a little angel and her rocking horse.
About the Author
Jerrold Johnson is no stranger to death. He is a retired medical doctor, and thus has seen death in many forms. It was only in 1993 when death became a personal experience for him with the passing of his granddaughter, Katie – his inspiration for the book, Horse and the Little Girl.
These days, Johnson is busy volunteering as a physician at the Gallatin Community Clinic for people with little or no health insurance. He is also active in mental health. Johnson also continues to hone his writing skills through penning essays and poetry for two churches. He resides in Bozeman, Montana with his wife, Margaret.
