8 /10 1 Votes8
Illustrator Jeff Mayes Pages vii, 35 LC Class HV5825 .G52 Genre Children's literature OCLC 25855775 | 4/5 Goodreads Language English ISBN 0-533-09102-0 Originally published 1991 Page count 35 Country United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Followed by Latawnya the Naughty Horse Two Similar Learning Is Fun, The Merry‑Go‑Round of Love, Ricky the Skating Worm an, God Makes Everything Possible, Treetoe the Space Monster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Latawnya, The Naughty Horse, Learns to Say "No" to Drugs is a book by Sylvia Scott Gibson directed towards children, warning them about the dangers of alcohol and what the book refers to as "smoking drugs". It was published by Vantage Press with a copyright date of 1991. This anti-drug children's book is unusual in that it uses horses instead of humans as characters. Due to its absurd writing, illustrations and comments from the author, this book sells rapidly almost anytime a copy becomes available on Amazon.com.
Contents
Plot
The plot mainly deals with the title character, Latawnya, the youngest horse in her family. While out playing with her sisters Latoya and Daisy, they come across some other mares: Connie, Chrystal, Jackie and Angie. They ask Latawnya if she wants to engage in "smoking games" and "drinking games". Latawnya realizes that they want to smoke drugs and drink alcohol, and she joins in. Her sisters catch her with the four "bad" horses and proceed to criticize her for "smoking drugs and drinking", something that their parents tell them not to do. Although Latawnya begs Latoya and Daisy not to tell their parents, they tell on her anyway, resulting in an uncomfortable confrontation with them, as they are disappointed in her experimenting with smoking drugs and drinking. After an intense lecture from her parents (including a scene wherein an old friend of the father horse suffers an overdose after engaging in smoking games and drinking games), Latawnya realizes the error of her ways and promises never to engage in "smoking games" and "drinking games" again.
Sequel
In April 2010, a sequel entitled Latawnya the Naughty Horse Two was published. Gibson's daughters, Latawnya and Chrystal, wrote that they loved the book.
Legal action
In August 2010, the author filed a pro se lawsuit against Amazon.com, Urban Dictionary, and Wikimedia, objecting to Amazon's placing the book in their catalog, and Urban Dictionary selling merchandise with excerpts printed on them, and Wikipedia for (inaccurately) describing it. The text of the lawsuit is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, and erroneously describes Urban Dictionary and Wikimedia as being located at the same geographical address. The lawsuit was dismissed in September 2011.