Walter Farley

Yes, please.

And why that was something that was important to me? Because I, I grew up not around horses, and, uh, I love dogs, and I read all the dog books in the library that was close to us, and I ran out of dog books, and I picked up Walter Farley's Black Stallion, and I read it all in one night, and I was hooked.

I was 12 years old, and I was like, "Wow, a horse on an island that only, like, this boy can ride and train." And I read it, and then there was more horse books, and I was horse book person after that.

And I read everything, and I decided I was going to be a horse trainer from reading books, which was-

I've read so many books that I can't, like, s- put one ahead of the other, because I like Podasky's books.

I like Reiner Klimke's book, you know, on making of Ahlerich, the dressage world champion.

You know, I've, I liked all the horse books, all, every single thing by Walter Farley, CW Anderson, everything.

I just, I don't think any horse book is bad.

It's almost like an art film for kids.

It's based on the young adult novel, The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, which my mom had read when she was a kid.

So naturally, we were first in line for the tickets when it came out into theaters.

when it was released that year.

Certain stories became catalysts for my own make-believe adventures, not as one-off flights of fancy, but in a way that felt central to my existence.

By the time I discovered American author Walter Farley and his Black Stallion novels, I'd already worked my way through all the pony books that the library had to offer.

And there were a lot of them, mostly featuring peppy girls in pristine jodhpurs and high jinks at the Gymkhana.

The Black Stallion was a different beast.

Yeah.

Walter Farley, right?

Walter, yeah, yeah.

How do you donate all this money to build our first library in Venice, Florida?