Black Beauty: Illustrated by Lucy Kemp Welch (Everyman's Library Children's Classics Series) - Hardcover

Anna Sewell

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679428119 ISBN 13: 9780679428114

Publisher: Everyman's Library, 1993

Synopsis

Here is the compelling tale of a spirited young Thoroughbred that captured the hearts of readers throughout Victorian England when it was first published in 1877. This masterfully illustrated classic is skillfully adapted by Newbery Award-winning author Robin McKinley and remains faithful to the original. With simple text to read aloud to young children, it's little wonder that The Boston Globe says it is "certain to quicken the hearts of young horse lovers." A timeless tale of courage, hope, and strength guaranteed to delight a new generation of readers.

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: Everyman's Library
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0679428119
• ISBN 13: 9780679428114
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 312
• Illustrator: Lucy Kemp Welch