Slowpoke: The Bell Island Mine Horse

Jimmy is an 11-year-old boy who works at the Bell Island Mine in Newfoundland. Readers learn early in the story that Jimmy’s father died in the mine. It’s no wonder that Jimmy has a hard time leaving his family to work underground. Underground is scary. It’s dark, cold and there are rats. He meets three horses named Rusty, Rudy and Slowpoke. Jimmy is tasked with caring for the horses, and he takes a particular liking to Slowpoke and the two become inseparable. Slowpoke becomes the hero when he saves a trapped man with the help and encouragement from Jimmy. The miners credit the horse for his hard work and call him Tony, the name of Jimmy’s dad’s horse. It turns out that Slowpoke was the nickname for Tony. Jimmy is elated to learn that his father cared for that same horse. As Smith so eloquently puts it:

It felt strange to know someone you barely remembered. But Jimmy knew his father fiercely. He knew how the sun hurt his eyes at the end of a shift. And how the warmth on his face felt like magic. Most of all, he knew how his horse’s nose felt in the palm of his hand. It was soft like velvet.

This heartwarming read demonstrates that Jimmy and his father are linked, even after death, by the love they share for the horse.

Heather Smith is from Newfoundland, and she explains in the “Author’s Notes” that she was inspired to write this book after visiting the Bell Island Community Museum in 2017. Her inspiration for this book is felt when you read her work. Smith’s work is a pleasure to read. She touches on death but does so in a way that is accessible to young readers. Going underground for a young boy at 11- years-old is hard to fathom, but this was the reality for many children back in the early 1900s.

Illustrations help to bring picture books to life, and Genevieve Simms does a magnificent job at capturing the historic beauty of life for this mining family in Bell Island. The illustrator gives great detail to old salt box houses, Newfoundland’s beautiful landscape and young Jimmy. The somber tone of this book is seen when the topic of death is discussed. Simms gives a perfect balance of giving enough detail to images when needed, but she pulls back and only shares a dark image with little colour, leaving the reader with just enough imagery to imagine what’s happening.

Slowpoke: The Bell Island Mine Horse, a book that touches on love and loss, will resonate with anyone who is an animal lover or frequents the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.