Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell Book Review by Miranda Fraser (Moses) ISBN: 1-56987-121-3 Unlike White Fang this one immediately came up under the genre of Classic, which is pretty exciting. This book is even older than White Fang being originally published in 1877 but the POV situation is much the same. Anna Sewell, just seems like my kind of woman. She was raised around horses, as can be seen in her work, she disliked the way they were being treated. And that love was shown through her writing, hence the story being told from Black Beauty's point of view. She had health problems that left her essentially invalid and from her sickbed she began writing Black Beauty in 1871. She picked it back up in 1876, afraid she would never see her work published, but her mother helped her achieve that goal and in 1877 Anna saw her dream come true. And it breaks my heart that 5 months later she passed away, and so she has no idea the millions of live this book has touched, the influence it has had, or the fact that Black Beauty is one of the most celebrated animal stories ever. And even though she may never know what she has done, I will continue to share this classic work of literature and encourage everyone to do the same. Black Beauty is about the life of a stallion. Starting from when he is a young colt to late in his life. It covers all the trials a horse may know. I mean Black Beauty goes all over the place. He has been owned by so many different people over the years. He has had kind owners and cruel ones, learned harsh lessons about life and death. He goes through the motions of life and witnesses all kinds of treatment, from those in poverty and in wealth. He meets many horses over the years and shares their stories as well. Anna sewell did an excellent job in this novel by presenting people with the harsh reality of how animals were treated. Often times the horses appearances were the only thing that mattered, not the animal's comfort or health. The entire Classic is riveting and emotional. An excellent read for any animal lover. There is not much else that I can really say. Her work speaks for itself. It has been turned into cartoon movies, real life movies, various novels have been worked off of her original story. There are coloring books and illustrated versions, even graphic novels. Black Beauty is easily one of the most cherished horse stories to ever grace the pages. And furthermore Anna's whole goal of showing people how animals are being treated, has been taken to heart by little girl after little girl, little boy after little boy. And the more I've read it, the more I've come to realize, that just like White Fang it was writing my moral compass and my love of animals and their feelings. I also want to leave you with a powerful quote from Black Beauty, "...there is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham...." As always a link to the author's Goodreads page will be found below. Read on my fellow bookworms may we one day have Belle's library. And the same as with White Fang, the novel photographed, is a shortened version intended to get children's interest. But since it was the first version I ever read I felt it only fitting to show this particular cover.
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White Fang by Jack London Book Review by Miranda Fraser (Moses) ISBN:1-56987-413-1 This book is a whole lifetime older than I am. To REALLY put this in perspective Jack London passed away 77 years ago and White Fang was published in 1906. It's a really old book. Certainly old enough and well written enough that I think it should be considered a classic. In fact the edition I have in my hands calls it a classic. But when I was looking for exact dates on publishing I found that most people just consider this book a fiction novel. Whatever the genre you would place it in, White Fang is undeniably one of the best books ever written. I will also preface this by saying that never in all my years of school, k through university, was this ever a required reading assignment. So I thought this was a fitting novel to share for this book review series as I've read it dozens of times, and because I wonder how many of you out there have actually read it. The story is about a dog who is half wolf (though in the genetic logistics of it all he's more wolf) and his story of survival. Honestly, it is a story filled with a lot of sadness. The truth of the wild that White Fang lives in is harsh and even harsher are the humans who become a part of his life. The story starts in the tundra with a dog sled team and each night more and more dogs go missing from the team. The men discover that a she-wolf (half dog and half wolf) are luring the dogs away to be eaten by her pack. Food is scarce and they are simply trying to survive. This she wolf ends up mating with another wolf in her pack and White Fang becomes the only surviving pup from their litter. Eventually humans become a part of their life and mother and pup are separated and thus starts the journey of White Fang. He doesn't fit in with dogs, he doesn't fit in with wolves, humans beat him and use him as a fighting dog, and the world is cruel. But then there's also beauty and compassion and I promise you, a really happy ending. The story is told from White Fang's POV (primarily) and this is wonderful because it allows the reader to really get into his mind and see what he is feeling. How he is processing things and where his instincts come into play, and so on. It really makes the story delightful and since I read this book (the one in the picture below) at such a young age (the first time) I think it really had an impact on who I am and how I treat animals. (The edition I photographed is a "summarized version" intended for an easier read. Though I do have the traditional novel and have read that many a time. I just want to clear that up before anyone gets upset.) When I include the link to Jack London's Goodreads page I highly recommend reading the excerpt from his bio. It tells a lot about the man and the mindset behind this novel. I feel like I appreciate it even more knowing about the adventurous man who first sparked my thoughts on writing. Read on my fellow bookworms, may we one day have Belle's library. As always links to the author's page can be found down below. The book in the photo above, is far from in the best condition. This particular version was printed in 1995 and sometime afterwards my Great Grandma purchased it, somewhere, for 99 cents. (There's still a partial sticker on the cover.) She kept a bookshelf in the living room of books in various reading levels, and her grand kids and great grand-kids would have books to read when they were over at her house. One day I was reading this book and she was so impressed by how immersed I was in the story and how well I was able to read it that she told me to keep it. She even put the date inside the cover (5-19-2000). The book wasn't in perfect condition when I received it, at age 7, but no doubt several moves and dozens of re-reads over the years have worn this book down! I now keep it packed away on a shelf and read the 'adult' version when I want to reread it. But it didn't feel right to post a photo of a different version. THIS book is why I fell in love with the story and THIS book will forever make me think of my Great Grandma. She passed away in 2010 (would have been 100 in march) and my entire family misses her. She was just an amazing woman with the most giving heart and I owe a lot of my love of literature and writing to her.
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