Books on Horseback, from Reycraft Books, Spotlights One Woman’s Journeys to Deliver the Joy of Reading
The picture book, a work of fiction, is based on actual women who operated as mobile libraries in Kentucky during the Great Depression.
NEW ROCHELLE, NY, Aug. 28, 2025— Leading children’s trade publisher Reycraft Books is pleased to announce the publication of Books on Horseback: The Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky, written by Candice Ransom and illustrated by Massimiliano Di Lauro. Released on January 13, 2026, this illustrated work of historical fiction takes young readers back in time to the Great Depression and introduces them to Marjorie, also known as “The Book Lady”—a woman involved with the Kentucky Packhorse Library. As part of this real-life initiative created by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, used, discarded, and donated books and other reading materials were carried by local women on horseback and delivered to people living in isolated areas far from any public libraries. The aim was to both create new jobs in the region and help people exercise their right to read.
The book focuses on the fictional Marjorie and her horse Boots and their travels, during which they sometimes face rough terrain and challenging weather. Along the way, Marjorie establishes personal connections with the people to whom she delivers books and magazines, becoming a welcome sight to readers of all ages—particularly a young boy who yearns to read a book about a dog. Unfortunately, Marjorie doesn't have such a book in her supply, and the Packhorse Library program doesn't fund the purchase of new reading materials. Marjorie, therefore, decides to take matters into her own hands.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Candice Ransom is the author of more than 180 books for children and young adults. She lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia, with two impossible cats. Whenever she can, she goes to the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachians, with a book and her camera.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR:
Massimiliano di Lauro is an Italian illustrator based in Puglia. He has published children's books translated into seven languages, including the award-winning Reycraft Book, Dolley Madison, the White House, and the Big Tornado.
Ransom, who has been writing books for children for more than 40 years, said she was inspired to write Books on Horseback about 30 years ago, while doing research for a children’s book set during the Great Depression. “I came across a reference on the Packhorse Library project,” she said. “As someone who loves both horses and books, I decided to write a picture book on the subject.”
To capture the details and feel of the era in which the story takes place, Ransom said she spent more than six months doing research in university libraries and at historical societies, eventually filling two 4-inch binders. She also drew upon her own background. “My parents lived through the Depression,” the author explained. “My mother’s family was from the Blue Ridge Mountain region. My father grew up in the Allegheny Mountains in southwest Virginia. Both of these ranges are part of the Southern Appalachians found in eastern Kentucky. I’ve traveled through these mountains many times. I knew how these people spoke and how they lived.”
In creating the fictional Marjorie the Book Lady, a hardy woman who carries out her mission with determination and kind-heartedness, Ransom said she combined many of the women in her own family. “My grandparents were born in the 1890s,” she said. “I’m ninth generation Virginian on both sides. When I was a child, I met a few of my mother’s aunts and uncles, who spoke, dressed, and lived as they did around the World War I era. ... [Marjorie] is partly based on the sturdy stock I come from … and partly from the gutsy packhorse librarians I read about.”
Although the story takes place 90 years ago, and the Packhorse Library project ended in 1943, Ransom is confident that Books on Horseback is relevant to readers of today. “In the Depression in eastern Kentucky, books opened the wider world for children and adults,” she said. “Today, the world is on a little screen held in our hands. Increasingly, children’s textbooks are becoming digitized. And yet, when I walk into our public library, which I do at least three times a week, the children’s room is always a hive of excited voices and books being pulled from shelves. Kids often plop down in the middle of the floor to open a book. I think my story might remind children that books—found in libraries, discount stores, and bookstores—aren’t always available.”
Ransom added that she can relate to people who don’t have easy access to books. “In my own so-not-Dick-and-Jane-childhood, there were few books in our home,” she said. “No one was a reader. Yet I constantly had my nose in a library book. I wrote Books on Horseback to help a child realize that not everyone has access to books. I wrote it for a child who desperately wants to own a book. I wrote it for my younger self, grateful that books and librarians saved me.”
ABOUT REYCRAFT BOOKS: partners with award-winning and up-and-coming authors and illustrators, primarily from underrepresented communities, to provide high-quality books that delight, inform, and honor the voice and vision of all children. Founded in 2019, the imprint publishes authentic stories—engaging picture books, transitional chapter books, middle grade books, graphic novels, and more—that build knowledge, perspective, and connection, meeting the diverse needs of children, families, and educators.