Slowpoke The Bell Island Mine Horse

A heartwarming picture book about an iron ore – mine horse and a timid young miner in Bell Island, Newfoundland, from award-winning author of Mr. Hirota’s Garden and The Agony of Bun O’Keefe

Out in Conception Bay, on the northern Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland and Labrador, sits tiny Bell Island, a tight-knit community where iron ore has been mined for centuries. Slowpoke The Bell Island Mine Horse tells the story of eleven-year-old Jimmy, who enters the mine in place of his father, who died in a tragic accident years earlier. To help support his family, Jimmy must overcome his fear of the underground space, the unrelenting darkness, the rumble of tramcars, and the clang-clang-clang of pickaxes. He’s not sure he’s cut out for a miner’s life until one day, his lamplight illuminates a beautiful horse named Slowpoke, with ears soft as velvet. The two soon find they have more in common than they could have dreamed, and when tragedy rears its head again, it’s up to Slowpoke and Jimmy to save the day.
From the award-winning author of The Agony of Bun O’Keefe, Slowpoke the Bell Island Mine Horse is a heartwarming tale of friendship and family, and offers the gritty story of the mining life — for both humans and horses — in nineteenth-century Newfoundland and Labrador.

Words by Heather Smith

Art by Genevieve Simms