A Book Report

For quite some time now I've been ignoring any temptation I had to check out Nancy Kelly's new book, Exploring the Model Horse Hobby, despite the rave reviews I was hearing about it.

The main reason for my reluctance to purchase was that I was convinced, both by the book's title and by all I was hearing about what was inside it, that it was not a book intended for me.  It seemed to be intended to introduce newcomers and/or their families to the hobby, and having been "in the hobby" for 33 years, I no longer consider myself to be a newcomer.

It was certainly nothing to do with the author.  I own and adore all three of Nancy Kelly's books on the Hagen-Renaker (H-R) company and their wares, and the only reason I don't have her books on Maureen Love and Freeman-McFarlin Pottery is that I don't own any of Maureen's works outside of those she did for H-R and I don't have any Freeman-McFarlin creatures, and I suspect that I never will.  Anyway, I deeply respect Nancy as a great writer, an outstanding researcher, and a clever collaborator with all of her sources.

I just didn't think this book could teach me something I didn't already know.

I was wrong about that, but not by much.  I did enjoy seeing pictures of all the old newsletters that used to circulate among hobby folk in the days before the Internet.  I learned a little bit more about the people who put them out, and the numbers issued over time.  I had, in my time, subscribed to a few of them, but seldom for more than a single year since we had our own newsletters in Canada which were much cheaper and simpler to access.  They may not have been as pretty as some of the American ones, but they contained information that was pertinent to Canadians, since our access to all aspects of the hobby differed slightly from that of our neighbours to the south.

I also found a few links provided by Nancy to some websites I'd never heard of before, so that was worthwhile.  But as to the primary subject matter of the book -- exploring the model horse hobby -- I didn't really find anything new to explore.

A slim volume, but chock-full of facts.

The book is beautiful in its own unique way -- although a slight book it is very picture-heavy, so it provides a bounty of wealth for those who like to sit and gaze.  The text portion of each chapter is comparatively brief, providing a simple overview of a topic which is actually dealt with in more detail in the photo captions.  I found the hobby history portion of the book the most informative, text-wise.  Although I had all this information before, it was nice to find it all rounded up in one spot for future reference.

My inner editor did find a few inaccuracies and omissions in the text, but nothing to detract from the book fulfilling its purpose.  My biggest quibble with the book as an object, actually, is its cover, which I believe does it a great disservice.  I choose to lay this at the door of the publisher, Fairport Press, as I know that authors seldom have much say in the packaging and marketing of their books. (However, it's possible that Exploring the Model Horse Hobby is a self-published effort.  If so, I'm sorry Nancy, but I really don't like the design of the cover.)  Yes, I know that you can't judge a book by its cover, but that won't stop me from judging the cover itself.

Hmm ...

In the case of Exploring the Model Horse Hobby, what we have is a pale blue cover with black print and four reprinted photographs taken from the inside of the book.  There is peculiar spacing between the top photo and the other three and, taken as a whole, the four photos do not well represent the breadth of topics covered in the book.  The top photo -- representing a conga line of original finish (OF) Breyers -- is taken from "Chapter 5: Collecting Model Horses."  By itself it works well enough to represent one aspect of collecting, but taken out of context it could also represent OF horses or Breyer products, so its meaning is not crystal clear.  Following this is a scenic photo of model horses taken from "Chapter 7: Showing Model Horses."  In its place it is meant to represent an aspect of model horse show photography, but again, out of context it could just as easily represent customized horses, the use of doll riders, or the use of scale in outdoor photographs.  Again, what it is supposed to represent on the cover is not exactly clear.

The final two pictures -- one of an artist painting a model horse with reference photographs in front of her and another of a finished customized unicorn -- are both taken from "Chapter 6: Creating Model Horses."  The photo of the horse being painted is the one I like best in this series -- it quite clearly illustrates how most hobbyists paint their models.  The unicorn photo is just confusing though.  It could represent fantasy equines, unrealistic colours, customs, or current fads.  In its place, it is just another illustration of a complicated customizing project.  Out of place, it is simply out of place.

There are other photos inside the book that could have been substituted to better represent the breadth of the book's subject matter.

If I were to redesign the cover I'd put the photo from page 66, of a china cabinet featuring many different kinds of horses on its shelves at the top to represent the variety of models available to collect and display.  I'd follow this with the conga line photo of "Samba Surprise" Breyerfest models to symbolize boh Breyerfest and one kind of collecting.  I'd use the photo of the horse being painted to illustrate the creative aspects of the hobby, followed by a headstudy of an unpainted resin pair (from page 111) to stand for the hobby in its current state and the rise of resins as a whole.

But that's just me.  The book's title page is a close-up of a dramatically customized black flying horse from "Chapter 6: Creating Model Horses" (page 59).  Although it doesn't really give you a clue as to what's inside the book, it would have made a very striking cover -- something that said "pick me up and read me" in a way that the current cover does not.

Back in grade school we used to be encouraged to end our book reports with a statement on whether or not we would recommend this book to others.  I don't ever remember seeing a book report that did not end with a recommendation since we all chose the books we wanted to read to write reports on.

So who am I to argue with the trend?  I do recommend this book, but with the caveat that it's a better book for those with scant knowledge about the hobby than those of us who've been there and done that.  If you like to look at pretty pictures, this book is for you.  If you want to learn a few new things, you'll probably be able to do that too (I did, after all).  But the book is an overview, a guide, an "exploration," and in its attempt to cover a wide range of topics it inevitably gives some topics, like tack-, prop-, and doll-making, very short shrift.

The fact is, a comprehensive guide to the model horse hobby would require an encyclopedia -- that's how massive this hobby has become.  Nancy Kelly did very well to pack so much information into such a small space.  Congratulations to her and -- if you have a copy of this book coming to you, or sitting on your shelves ready to be read -- congratulations to you: you're in for a bit of a treat.

Just don't judge the book by its cover, I beg you.  It's much better than it at first appears.