I was immediately drawn to THE HUNGRY PLACE by the cover. I know. I know. Never judge a book by its cover. But it’s a horse! As a child, I devoured every book I could find about animals, particularly dogs and horses, but loved stories about cats, deer, and elephants, too. So it seemed a natural fit. I was right.

In THE HUNGRY PLACE, Rae, a young lady from a financially strapped family, ‘hungers’ for a pony despite the many obstacles that whisper to her about impossible dreams. Princess is marked as extraordinary by her kindly elderly owner who claims from the start that he “wouldn’t part with Princess for a million dollars.” Fate steps in and Rae briefly meets Princess when the pony is still young. Their eyes lock. They connect for an instant. Then they part. Rae is resigned to never seeing Princess again. After all, she belongs to someone else. And Rae could never hope to own such an extraordinary pony.

So Rae sets her sights lower. Saves her money. Continues to hope. Someday she’ll own a pony. Someday. Because she hungers for that more than anything else in the world.

All the while, Princess grows up. Gets trained. Is entered in many horse shows. Becomes a champion. It’s a life that isolates her from other ponies. But the kind man is always there and she knows she’s loved. But when the kind man stops coming, her hunger for love is overshadowed by her real hunger for food and the need to survive.

Haas does an outstanding job of telling this story from the multiple viewpoints of Rae and Princess. (What fun getting to know the world through the eyes of a pony.) She also taps into the multiple meanings of her title, real hunger vs. recognizing that there’s a hungry place inside us all, and not just for food.

I thoroughly enjoyed THE HUNGRY PLACE and was delighted to learn that Haas has written over 40 books, many of them about horses. As a new fan, I plan to devour more books by Jessie Haas.