Black Beauty and the Thunderstorm

June 1, 2011

Gr 1-3-In five short chapters for fluent beginning readers, Black Beauty narrates some events based on the novel. The text effectively shares the horse's thoughts and frustrations and includes action-packed descriptions. He is purchased by Jerry, a cabdriver who calls him Jack and whose daughter, Dolly, calls him "Pretty Jack." During a raging thunderstorm, he observes Dolly chase after her runaway cat. Concerned for her safety, he breaks out of the stable, collides into "a man with shiny buttons," and rescues the child, who is close to drowning in a rushing river. Although "the man with the shiny buttons" wants Jerry to "get rid of the beast," he refuses, "in a voice both soft and strong." Black Beauty shares his desire to "run free" to the pasture of his first home but acknowledges that while "Pretty Jack is not my name...I am loved here, I am home." Farnsworth's distinguished oil paintings beautifully convey the 19th-century British landscape with spot and full-page illustrations and rich spreads. Young readers will enjoy this introduction to Black Beauty and may clamor to have Sewell's classic read aloud.-Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI

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