Backyard Horses was exactly
the series I was looking for for my daughters who love Jesus, love
horses, and are in 3rd grade. The author also wrote a series for older
readers called "Winnie the Horse Gentler" and I tried that first but
I'd recommend it for middle school students and up. Besides being harder
to read, those books sometimes deal with harder issues (like abortion). Backyard Horses,
however, is written at around a 2nd/3rd grade
reading level. Love, love, love this series!
My daughters love
Ellie, the heroine of the story! There are so far 4 books in the series
and we started with book 1 (this one) in order to read them, well, in
order. The heroine of Horse Dreams, Ellie, is a sweet, oftentimes feisty,
day-dreaming 4th grader. In this book, she often day-dreams about her
own horse. She decides to do a "science" experiment... she'll "beg, cry,
and pray" for a horse of her own and find out what way works best for
getting horses. I don't think it's spoiling anything to say that God
will answer her prayer... but in a different way than she imagined.
I
highly recommend this book to elementary school children. It's filled
with a good story, important lessons, and a little girl who puts her
hope in God. I also highly recommend Cowboy Colt, Chasing Dream, and
Nightmare, the others in the series. By the way, you can earn this book
for free by participating in Tyndale's Summer Reading Program through
the end of August!
Thanks for reviewing this book series. Horses have always enjoyed a special appeal for little girls.
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