Black Beauty
Written by Anna Sewell
Illustrated by Anna Sewell
Reviewed by I.K. (age 9)
Black Beauty is a very beautiful black horse with a star birth mark on her head. She had a very good life. By day she played with her friends. By night she slept with her mother. One day that all changed. A man came to buy her. He took her away to a big house and that is when she met a horse named Ginger. Ginger and Black Beauty had a very hard job and were treated like dirt. They never even got play time. The only person who was nice to them was Joe, the house keeper. He would always beg Rubin, the carriage driver, to stop being so mean. Rubin never listened. One day Ginger couldn’t take it any more. She jumped very high and nearly killed Black Beauty. Ginger was sent away never to be seen again. The same thing happened to Joe. Black Beauty was all alone. Rubin paid no attention to Black Beauty. One day Black Beauty’s shoe got loose. She fell on some hard stones throwing Rubin off. Black Beauty’s new owner gave Black Beauty a beautiful home. One day when they were walking Black Beauty saw her old friend Ginger. She didn’t stop to play with Ginger. She just told her to be a good girl and be the best you can be. Read the book to find out what happens next.
I liked this book because it tells a wonderful story that just makes me cry because Black Beauty has to leave her mother and she never sees her again. Throughout the book Black Beauty missed her mother but met two amazing friends that covered the hole in her heart as well as her mother did. My favorite part was when Black Beauty sees her best friend Ginger once more with her new owner because she had lost her best friend and had not seen her in a while. My favorite characters were Black Beauty, Ginger, Black Beauty’s mother and Black Beauty’s last owner. I dislike Lady Richmore and Rubin. I dislike these people because Lady Richmore only bought Black Beauty because she wanted some odd horse that could pull her carriage. I dislike Rubin because he doesn’t care if he is hurting the horses when he whips them. One time he was taking Black Beauty for a stroll and the horse tripped and Rubin fell off. But Lady Richmore and Rubin didn’t care that it wasn’t Black Beauty’s fault and they sold her to a man who needed a horse to pull his carriage.
I recommend this book to everyone who has horses or rides a horse. Black Beauty is a very confident and brave horse because she makes it through all of the adventures that she goes through. She is a confident horse because she will never let herself be somewhere bad and with someone who doesn’t care about her. You should read this book because Black Beauty will inspire you to be the best you can be and make the right choices for yourself.