By Rosanne Parry
4RBooks: 5/6, grades 4-7
Amazon rating: 4.8/5, grade level 3-7
Good Reads: 4.38/5
Common Sense Media: 5/5, age 8+
259 pages
Synopsis:
Sky is a wild mustang in the Sierra Mountain range of Nevada. He lives in a band of horses with his mother, the lead stallion Thunder, and his best friend Storm. They live a life of freedom, roaming together in their band, helping each other to survive. Until, Storm, Sky, and three other horses are entrapped by men. Sky helps the others to escape but is caught and brought to a Pony Express post where he will be trained to carry riders and their goods.
Sky learns from the other horses that he should just give in and accept his fate, but he refuses. He learns to be a Pony Express horse but is always on the lookout for his chance to escape. When he finally does, there are many dangers ahead. He must find his way back to his home waters and his band. He must be on the lookout for predators, and men who would capture him and bring him back. And he knows, once he finds them, if he wants to stay, he will have to defeat Thunder to become the lead stallion of the band.
More complications arise when he discovers that his band has been captured by miners. Sky will have to convince them to escape, help them evade the men, and lead them to a new homeland.
Parental Guidance: low
Scenes of animals in danger.
Mistreatment of animals by humans. (brandings, whips, riding crops)
A servant boy is mistreated by the camp boss.
Some of the horses are injured. Sky’s mother has gone blind.
The main stallion dies after they escape.
Horse interactions include peeing and defecating.
Recommendation:
This is the third nature-based novel of Roseanne Parry that I have read and reviewed. The first two, A Whale of the Wild and A Wolf Called Wander, were about predator animals that will always be wild. This has a different sensibility since it is about a herbivore who is always on the lookout for predators and men who wish to domesticate them. It is a first-person, or first-horse, narrative from Sky’s point of view. The animals are the heroes here, humans not so much, though kind humans are pointed out.
The story is interesting, well-paced, and suitable for children of all ages (read aloud for the younger ones). The author includes many historical and scientific facts that can lead to individual projects for each reader. There is an appendix at the end with details and facts about the wild stallions, animals and plants of the Great Basin, the Pony Express, silver mining, and the life of Native Americans in that area.
The author’s framework is to create environmentally conscious children as there are many details about climate change and its effects on land, plants, and animals. The author also points out the negative effects of silver mining, and on how ranch lands took over the land of the mustangs. There is also a section on the mistreatment of Native Americans.
There is a lot to like and appreciate with this novel both for classroom, individual, or family reads. Some people will appreciate the author’s bias, but others will want to be prepared for discussions.
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