1.68k reviews for:

Black Beauty

Anna Sewell

3.79 AVERAGE


Brilliant story-telling. The only book I have ever read, in the voice of a horse. Even though written in the last century, it is timeless in terms of how animals form a part of our lives. Highly recommend it for children and grown-ups alike.

Much like Sherlock Holmes and Peter Pan, this is one of the many versions of this story that I have read.

I'm not sure this is a book I would rave about, but it is one I'm happy to have read. While I wasn't a fan of reading from the horses perspectives, it served it purpose and by the end I was really feeling for them. I learned a lot and I'll be thinking about this for a long time.

I love horses, and when I was little I was obsessed with them! How many times I've read this book, I'm not sure, but I know that I have cried myself through it everytime.

I really liked that this story was told through the point of view of the horse. So often people forget that animals have thoughts, feelings, emotions. This story was primarily positive, but it did shed light on how poorly some horses were treated and abused. It is a good conversation starter for sure.

I think it was really cool because Black Beauty herself told the story and she found a really good home in the end where she would last forever and ever and ever. I learned that things can be really, really hard and you just have to get over them.

I CAN'T STOP CRYING!

It is the most beautiful story about how cruel we humans are. I like that it as told by the horse and how good work Anna Sewell has done to study and understand the horses' behaviour.

Animal abuse, religion, politics, and death. Much deeper than I expected. It was fantastic! So many J names!
I think this was a good last read of 2014. Maybe my favorite of the year??

Made me cry happy and sad tears, anyone who loves horses won't regret picking up this classic.

This book is a lot more moralising than I remembered it being from my childhood. It's also very Victorian in its morality of deserving/undeserving, but it deserves credit for arguing for animal rights in a period when animals were thought to be without feelings and merely objects. And it's still a good read.