Black Beauty

This classic story by Anna Sewell is heartwrenching but not overly sentimental. A believable autobiography of a horse, you will begin to feel every emotion that Beauty does. The writing takes you right along with him from the countryside to the city of London in Victorian England.

The pictured copy is from the "Whole Story" publishers, which is the one I read this time (I realized while reading, that indeed I had read this wonderful story when I was young and in my "horse-loving" stage) and it was a delightful edition, because it included facts, pictures and paintings from the time the book was originally published. I liked the added information on conditions and how things would have been when Anna Sewell wrote this novel.

Occasionally sad, the overall story is hopeful and an enjoyable read. The tale is for young readers, but an overly sensitive child may need to be told that because of books like this, the cruelty that Beauty faces (due to ignorance or carelessness) no longer exists. Even an adult, such as myself, needs to remember that although the practices of the uninformed before animal rights are no longer acceptable thanks to activists of the past, that we need to be vigilant that animals never face harm due to careless or intentional acts of humans.