![]() Who can see the stubbornness in a pony's rump turning toward them. Who understand that Sir Pericles is a marvel and that you never want to break his heart. Who know that a horse can be willing without a clue what to do. Who know that putting a horse out to grass without grain will make them lose condition, and what that looks like. This is also a book for people who know horses. This is not a kids' book, although a child could read it. But it's also about women rising to their best because of a man supporting them, men seeing past appearances to the power of the woman's personality that's hiding underneath, living a life that's poor in resources but rich in community. National Velvet is about a girl and her horse, that's true enough. The rural way of life, in which most dogs aren't pets, your pony is your means of transportation instead of your hobby, and the village is a long walk away- all pretty much gone. How many people even know what butchering is, much less what it would be like to live in front of a kill yard? There's nowhere I know that would give kids candy bars on credit with the kids carefully tallying up what they owe for when they have the money. While I was reading the book, I was very aware that I was being given a slice of life for a way that people don't live anymore. ![]() ![]() ![]() It was written in 1935, so of course it's aged. How do you rate a book like this? It's marketed as a children's book, but when I read it as a pre-teen there's no way I got all the subtleties that the author works into her themes. ![]()
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