Black Beauty - Hardcover

Lerner, Sharon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 037585892X ISBN 13: 9780375858925

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers, 2009

Synopsis

A stunning picture-book introduction to the first famous fictional horse!

Anna Sewell's classic Black Beauty comes vividly to life in this 40-page picture-book adaptation by Sharon Lerner. Follow the famous stallion as he meets many masters, from Squire Gordon, whose wife Black Beauty saves nearly at the cost of his own life; to the cruel Nicholas Skinner, who drives horses to death; and finally to a reunion with Joe, the kind groom he knew as a colt. Caldecott Award winner Susan Jeffers illustrates this beloved tale with lush watercolor drawings guaranteed to delight and enchant children.

About this title

Review:

A horse is a horse of course unless of course the horse is Black Beauty. Animal-loving children have been devoted to Black Beauty throughout this century, and no doubt will continue through the next. Although Anna Sewell's classic paints a clear picture of turn-of-the-century London, its message is universal and timeless: animals will serve humans well if they are treated with consideration and kindness.

Black Beauty tells the story of the horse's own long and varied life, from a well-born colt in a pleasant meadow to an elegant carriage horse for a gentleman to a painfully overworked cab horse. Throughout, Sewell rails--in a gentle, 19th-century way--against animal maltreatment. Young readers will follow Black Beauty's fortunes, good and bad, with gentle masters as well as cruel. Children can easily make the leap from horse-human relationships to human-human relationships, and begin to understand how their own consideration of others may be a benefit to all. (Ages 9 to 12)

From the Publisher:

Black Beauty's tale, as told by himself, is the fascinating story of the life of a horse a hundred years ago, when horseswere a part of everyone's life.

Although his colthood and early life were happy, Black Beauty tastes the bitterness of cruel grooms and indifferent masters as he passes from hand to hand, progressing from the country to London and back again.

This, the most famous horse story ever written, is a must on everyone's reading list.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 037585892X
• ISBN 13: 9780375858925
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Jeffers Susan