The Island Horse

by Susan Hughes

Overview

In the wake of her mother’s death, a young girl bonds with a wild stallion on Sable Island. A moving chapter book that will especially appeal to horse lovers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554539949
Publisher:	Kids Can Press
Publication date:	03/01/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Susan Hughes an award-winning author, whose books for children include Case Closed?, No Girls Allowed, Earth to Audrey and Virginia. She has loved horses since she was a child and has long dreamed of setting a story on Sable Island. Susan lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3–5—After her mother dies, nine-year-old Ellie has to leave her beloved Nova Scotia home so that her father can take a job on isolated Sable Island. Even though he tries to reassure her by telling her about the wild horses there, Ellie is miserable about leaving the only place she has ever known. Just a few families live on the island in the early 1800s, and although there is a girl her age, she is reluctant to return Sarah's overtures of friendship. While her father is patrolling the coastline for ships in distress, Ellie starts to explore the area and discovers a small herd of horses. As she comes to know them, especially the stallion, some of her loneliness starts to fade, and when she finds out that they are in danger, she knows that she must act to save them and gets some unexpected help from Sarah. Accompanied by detailed, finely drawn black-and-white illustrations, this is a well-told, simple story that will keep young horse lovers interested because of the lure that surrounds the idea of living among wild horses. Ellie is a sympathetic character dealing with some difficult issues, and Sarah is a free-spirited creature like the wild horses themselves. The history of the island is subtly woven into the story, and an author's note provides additional background.—Carol Schene, formerly at Taunton Public Schools, MA

School Library Journal

Another misunderstood child. Another friendly stallion. Young Ellie, still grieving her mother's death, is unhappy when her father takes a new job on remote Sable Island. This sand-shifting "Graveyard of the Atlantic," 25 miles long and one mile wide, causes multiple shipwrecks each year, and Ellie's father is joining a group of government rescue workers there. Ellie doesn't want to leave home, but within a few days of reaching Sable Island she's made friends with a wild stallion there. A few days after that, the villagers are holding their annual wild-horse roundup. Terrified that her new friend will be sold, Ellie begs her father for help. He suggests she--at 9 years old--lead the wild stallion to the far end of the island. Ellie does, and the stallion is saved (at least until next year). Hughes does well describing the physical setting but struggles with the temporal aspect. The author's note says the book takes place in the early 1800s, but the story and characters feel more modern than that. It's also hard to find the point--that Ellie doesn't want to leave her home? that the stallion shouldn't be captured?--and the pacing is far too abrupt for the emotional changes to be believable. It's too bad, because Sable Island itself is fascinating. A few shipwrecks and less hand-wringing, and you'd have a good story. (Historical fiction. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews