jim ohern

This adorable young children’s picture book, with amazing illustrations, addresses how young children create imaginary friends to help them get through difficult times.  The Horses in the Closet is a delightful and entertaining tale of friendship, between a young boy and his special horse friends Hoofus & Joofus.  This book will be a great addition to every young child’s e-library for their reading and vocabulary development. It is also a great tool for teachers to use in the classroom to help young children, who are sad from loneliness, to show that it is acceptable to have imaginary friends.

Summer vacation has ended and Luke’s two older siblings do not have time to play with him anymore. They started a new school year and Luke is alone at home.  Luke terribly misses his brother and sister after playing with them every day throughout the summer.  Luke is so sad and so lonely that one morning after his sibling have left for school that he begins to sob. 

But then he hears a CLIPPITY CLOP, CLIPPITY CLOP sound coming from the closet.  Luke inches up to the door and throws it open. There in front of him are two giddy horses. They introduce themselves as Hoofus and Joofus and tell Luke they are there to be his new friends and play with him. Initially, Luke is frightened.  But after a few minutes, he loves the idea of having two new friends to play with every day. They play ball, hide and seek, spacemen, and so much more. Luke soon forgets about being lonely or sad.

When Luke’s brother and sister ask him what he does all day while they are at school, Luke proudly explains he plays with Hoofus and Joofus.  Naturally, the siblings do not believe their little brother.  Luke takes them to visit Hoofus and Joofus.  But his siblings can neither see nor hear the horses so they choose to make fun of Luke.  Luke does not care that they cannot see his friends.  What matters most to Luke is that he can continue to play with Hoofus and Joofus throughout the school year and following summer. 

At long last, it is finally time for Luke to start going to school. The problem for Luke, however, is that Hoofus and Joofus will need to leave. They explain to Luke that he will make new friends at school and they now need to spend time with other young children who need their friendship. Although Luke is sad at losing his best friends, he is soon happy again when he meets his new classmates at school.