I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a easy book for early readers that's funny and light hearted.

When the 1st Steve the Horse book came out, my daughter and I enjoyed the whimsical story and art. Steve's a character - flawed, funny - and we were Team Steve <-- title of the 2nd book we read from Kelly Collier. But in "Steve, A Pretty Exceptional Horse," he's become mediocre. Could be because we've grown older since the 1st book came out in 2018, but this just didn't have the same magic. There was a great concept but the execution lacked the freshness when Steve 1st came on the scene. Ultimately, this felt like a rehash of a Mo Willems' Elephant & Piggie kind of book.

ARC Copy...If read the picture books, you can guess how this will go. Surprised Steve was getting a graphic novel adaption and hehe sure to bring a smile to him and anyone whose like "Narwhal and Jelly" style of humor.

Steve is a normal horse who wants to be exceptional, and in trying to be something else, he learns that he's pretty special the way he is and that his friends really look up to him. It's a good moral and a fun story to tell, but there was just something missing that prevented me from really bumping this up beyond the three star rating, and even that felt a little generous. This is a good early reader graphic novel, and there are some fun elements, but I also felt like Steve was a pretty selfish horse and a pretty blind to his friends horse, which detracted from the fun and the overall story. The artwork is nice, although it has been updated from the picture books.

I feel like the picture books are better, but maybe that's just my bias towards picture books for something like this.

If you have an early reader who prefers graphic novels, then this is not a bad one to either pick up or get from the library.

A story about not lettings things over inflate your ego. Following a very similar storyline to a Horse Named Steve. Steve suffers from insecurity, but his self esteem is bolstered when he finds a horn that makes him different, nay, exceptional. He encourages his friends to to also get horns to be exceptional, and when everyone gets a horn they are all the same. Steve realizes his difference makes him exceptional. Steve, a Pretty Exceptional Horse is a fun book for younger readers, sharing a message about assimilation if you read it deeply enough, but it's by and large a lighthearted book about a horse named Steve with high self esteem, self confidence and a huuuuuuge ego.

Loved this book and I can see the kids at my library loving it too! It was funny and clever and I think we all can relate to Steve!

"Steve, a Pretty Exceptional Horse" is an early graphic novel by Kelly Collier, based off of Collier's picture books about Steve. Steve is a silly horse who enjoys hanging out with his animal friends. After seeing a peacock showing their beautiful tail, and hearing his friend Bob the raccoon call it "exceptional," Steve decides he wants to be exceptional. He runs around and finds a golden horn with a string to tie to his head. He ties it on and runs around to show all of his friends. Young readers will learn what "exceptional" means, even if Steve doesn't really end up getting the message that he doesn't need to be exceptional. A funny story that early readers will enjoy. A recommended purchase for young graphic novel collections.

This is a delightful graphic novel for young readers. With laugh out loud moments from Steve the horse, or his friends like Bob the raccoon, this is a sweet story of finding your place and being yourself. The artwork is adorable, and I look forward to seeing more from this series!

This is a story about a couple of friends and after seeing a peacock the horse wants to be extraordinary and finds a horn. He puts it on and shows it off to everyone. In the end though he learns that being himself is the most important thing. This is a great book for young kids and preteens who are still trying to figure out who they are.

A cute graphic novel for early readers. This is humourous enough to keep kids engaged and the word count per page makes it accessible for readers looking to read something a bit longer without over shooting their abilities.

Great characters and a fun plot.

I have not read any of the other Steve books, and maybe I should have before reading this book to help understand the characters a little better. Just reading this on its own, it seems as though the characters do not have a good rapport. Bob and the other animals seem to find Steve annoying, and I also found Steve to be a little too much. But again, maybe there was more character set up in the other books to make this rapport more funny. I found the message to be a little lost and conflicting. You need to be different in order to be exceptional. (What about kids who are content to just fit into societal norms?)
I had my own 11 and 8 year old boys read the book and give some feedback. They did seem to enjoy Steve and the other characters and did not seem bothered by the message. They liked the pictures and thought the ending was funny. They did mention that they wished some more action would have happened in the story, but said that they would like to read more books about Steve. My 11 year old rated it 4.5/5 and my 8 year old rated it 4/5. My rating would be 3.5/5
I can see this being a good book for a library. It is something that can be enjoyed once then passed on to someone else. I would not buy this for my classroom or for our home library.

I've gotta be missing something, bc I thought this was terrible. Maybe I needed to have read the picture book first or maybe this is just a manifestation of how my generation was raised? Not sure. But I don't think it's very cool of Steve's buddy to not find anything exceptional about Steve. I'd be sad if my friend couldn't think of a single exceptional thing about me. At least make something up, c'mon.

Also I just don't get what the point is in the end.