A Girl, a Boy, a Horse and a Zorse by Rebecca Green
(UWAP)
A Girl, a Boy, a Horse and a Zorse is the inaugural winner of the Spiers Prize middle-grade category. It is an exciting and thoughtful novel.
Author Interview with Rebecca Green
Thank you for speaking about your imaginative and heartwarming debut novel A Girl, a Boy, a Horse and a Zorse with Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords, Rebecca.
How difficult was it coming up with the title A Girl, a Boy, a Horse and a Zorse?
The title came quite easily. I was wondering what to call it and thinking, well what is it about? And that was obvious: it’s about a girl, a boy, a horse and a zorse. They are my four main characters. I was worried about giving part of the story away by putting zorse in the title, but I think it’s the zorse that will excite a lot of readers and make them want to pick up the book. A lot of people I’ve chatted with about my book, both children and adults, have never heard of zorse before. When I explain to them what a zorse is, they usually can’t believe that such an amazing creature exists.
What is a zorse?
A zorse is a hybrid animal, a cross between a zebra stallion and a horse mare, the z is for zebra and the orse is for horse. Zorses usually have the base coat colour of the horse overlaid with dark zebra stripes. They inherit characteristics from both parents but tend to be wild and unpredictable like a zebra. They usually bark rather than neigh and tend to run in a zigzag pattern, as if they’re escaping from a predator, rather than a straight line. In my opinion, zorses are most magical creature possible – even more magical than unicorns – because they actually exist.
Have you ever met a zorse?
Yes! Lucky me, I’ve met a zorse and a zonkey. There are no zorses or zonkeys in Australia, or even close to Australia, so I had to travel halfway around the world to meet them. I met half-siblings Zoe the zorse and Cletus the zonkey at the Eden Zoo in Kentucky, USA. I was able to pat them and feed them some hay and have my photo taken with them. It was very exciting. I’d love to meet more zorses.
I follow a few zorse and zonkey owners on social media, so I can get daily moments of zorse magic. My favorites are Zelda The Zorse, Timi Sebright, and Zebras R Us.
Just in case I was able to own my own zorse, and while doing some research for A girl, a boy, a horse and zorse, I emailed the Australian government and asked them if I could legally own a zorse in Australia. I’m not sure where I was going to keep it, but that didn’t matter because the government said, ‘no, definitely not’.
Which character came first, the zorse or the girl with the eyepatch?
The zorse came first. I fell in love with zorses the first time I came across one, which was a newspaper article about a zorse born in a Germany zoo in 2006. I couldn’t believe such an amazing and unique animal existed. When my writing teacher suggested I try writing a novel, I knew it would be about a zorse.
Roo is a fascinating character. Is she based on anyone you know?
All the characters in the book are fictitious, even the animals, although there are elements of truth to many of them. Roo is perhaps the character most like me. Like Roo, I grew up dreaming of having my own horse and one day that dream came true for me. I tried to tap into the magic of that moment when creating Roo’s passion for horses. I admire Roo’s stoicism, which is a characteristic she gets from my father.
Food is such a lovely feature of the story, was that intentional?
Absolutely. I grew up reading Enid Blyton’s books, which are full of midnight feasts, picnics and all sorts of food adventures. I absolutely wanted to share the love of food in stories. Nan became the perfect character for embodying love through feeding people.
Bert is an unusual character to have in children’s literature, what was the inspiration and what is his role?
Bert is the fairy godmother figure. He is one of my favourite characters. I love the juxtaposition of his work at the meatworks with his kind and thoughtful nature. He is attuned to animals and people, much more so than any other character in the book. He is a fixer of people and animals. I wanted to include a fairytale godmother-like character in the book and Bert just stepped into that role.
About Rebecca Green:
‘For Rebecca Green, horses have been a lifelong fascination. Growing up in country Victoria, she devoured horse books, dreamed of having a horse of her own and rode whenever she could. When she discovered zorses, she became fascinated by them too – and began wondering what it would be like to have one.
Rebecca Green is a journalist, book reviewer and school librarian, as well as a supportive member of the Australian writing community. She has received a Maurice Saxby Mentorship and won the Sutherland Shire Picture Book Manuscript Prize. Her debut middle grade novel, A Girl, a Boy, a Horse and a Zorse is a Spiers Prize winner, exploring friendship, disability and belonging.’
Rebecca Green is on Instagram at: www.instagram.com/rebecca_green_author/
A Girl, a Boy, a Horse and a Zorse by Rebecca Green at UWAP
Thanks to Jen and Romi at KEAN & Creative for facilitating this interview
