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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
Smokey and Clint loved each other with a love that was greater than love is not the kind of twist I expected from children’s literature but okay I guess.
This is one of the bigger books, and it started off kind of slow, which can make a person worry. How fascinating can a book written from the perspective of a horse get? But around halfway through, as Smoky starts to really face peril, I found myself unable to put the book down. I was fully engaged. So while there were a few slow bits, it's not nearly as rough as I thought it would be.
This was a very sweet story and I enjoyed it very much. I could have done without the regular negative references to Mexican people, which I suppose is a product of when it was written. Smoky was a fun horse to follow and his relationship with Clint was very special. Glad to have read it overall.
Ack, so many mixed feels. Part of me loves this book: there are very few fictional horses one roots for as much as Smoky, and the cowboy dialect makes for a charming readaloud. However, this book had serious flaws. First, it turns nice and racist in the middle, pretty much out of nowhere. James makes it very plain that Smoky only loves white people and that the darker the skin, the darker the soul. Ugh. Second, this is a really long, repetitive book, and if you have no fondness for long-winded ramblings (I do, fortunately), it can be outright annoying. Last, while the dialect is fun to read, the lack of grammatical consistency and overabundant run-on sentences often muddle the sense of the prose, and I found myself reading certain sentences over and again with little clarity gained. All in all, I enjoyed this, but would hesitate to recommend it.
adventurous
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism
A great book, when read at the right age. This is the story of Smokey, the horse, who lives the perfect wild life before meeting a man who changes his life. Then his life is changed one year and he has some sad and some great adventures. It is told from the point of view of a third person narrator, but mostly follows Smokey around only tells the scenes he is experiencing. There are some tough and sad events that happen, so I won't be reading this with Kai until he is 8 or 10, but I know he'll love it then.
It's not a fast paced adventure story, but I loved it because it was real and emotional. There was friendship, forgiveness, growth of character, true living, death, over coming hatred, and so much more.
It is written as a cowboy would speak, so it took some getting used to. In the end I appreciated the voice and the language. But this is another reason I would wait to read it with an older kid.
Some reviews mention racism. I think these people are reading too much into certain comments. The main "bad guy" who begins the negative events in Smokey's life is half Mexican and half "black". Yes, this characterization can be seen as racist stereotyping, and that is something I will discuss with my kids when we read it. But the language in the book is more than the way a cowboy talks. The man is called a "halfbreed", or sometimes "the breed", and at one point the narrator says he is worthless and basically the scum of the earth. But that is because of his actions, not because of the color of his skin. Although, again, I will concede that the very fact that the villain is colored can be racist. And there is another character who abuses Smokey later, who I think is not white, because the Sherif says they have to keep track of him the way they would a white man (implying he is not a white man). Because of his abuse of animals (not just Smokey), the other characters talk as if his life has very little value. So, yes, there are racist stereotypes written into the plot, but they are not huge blemishes on the novel, and I wouldn't even bring them up if it weren't for the other reviews I read. We do have to remember that this was almost 100 years ago and times were different. It's a great way to teach our children empathy and kindness.
Anyways, great book. It does need some cautions before reading. But I do want to introduce it to my children in a few years. Any horse lover would love it. And any reader can learn great lessons from it.
It's not a fast paced adventure story, but I loved it because it was real and emotional. There was friendship, forgiveness, growth of character, true living, death, over coming hatred, and so much more.
It is written as a cowboy would speak, so it took some getting used to. In the end I appreciated the voice and the language. But this is another reason I would wait to read it with an older kid.
Some reviews mention racism. I think these people are reading too much into certain comments. The main "bad guy" who begins the negative events in Smokey's life is half Mexican and half "black". Yes, this characterization can be seen as racist stereotyping, and that is something I will discuss with my kids when we read it. But the language in the book is more than the way a cowboy talks. The man is called a "halfbreed", or sometimes "the breed", and at one point the narrator says he is worthless and basically the scum of the earth. But that is because of his actions, not because of the color of his skin. Although, again, I will concede that the very fact that the villain is colored can be racist. And there is another character who abuses Smokey later, who I think is not white, because the Sherif says they have to keep track of him the way they would a white man (implying he is not a white man). Because of his abuse of animals (not just Smokey), the other characters talk as if his life has very little value. So, yes, there are racist stereotypes written into the plot, but they are not huge blemishes on the novel, and I wouldn't even bring them up if it weren't for the other reviews I read. We do have to remember that this was almost 100 years ago and times were different. It's a great way to teach our children empathy and kindness.
Anyways, great book. It does need some cautions before reading. But I do want to introduce it to my children in a few years. Any horse lover would love it. And any reader can learn great lessons from it.
Smokey and Clint loved each other with a love that was greater than love is not the kind of twist I expected from children’s literature but okay I guess.
Smoky the Cowhorse is probably the kind of story most people imagine if they thought of the generic "horse" book. Essentially, it's a story about a special horse and a cowboy. And for all the warm-heartedness of that part of this story, I got much more out of it. Smoky also shows a perspective of the dark side of humanity and its capability of being cruel to other humans, but especially to animals to which it naturally dominates.
I'm not a big fan of anthropomorphizing animals - it generally comes across to me as incredibly arrogant - but I felt Will James used it as well as I can expect for this story. James' use of this tactic felt not as an attempt to humanize Smoky, but to paint the picture of his life in a way the reader can most empathize.
Smoky's life, and thus the book, segregates well into five parts: the time when he was born; the time he was tamed; the time he was stolen; the time he was angry; and the time he was found . Each one I could enjoy, but I certainly enjoyed the first two parts the most. The final part was bittersweet - but it was also very fitting.
I was taken aback by a couple of things. This book was written in 1925 and certainly was a different time back then...but it's still jarring to hear racially motivated slander. At one point a certain man is described as "a half-breed of Mexican and other blood that's darker". This was bad enough until a sheriff completely dismisses an active assault with "don't scatter than hombre's remains too much, you know we got to keep a record of that kind the same as if it was a white man". I don't mean to imply that James should have written this or should have removed it; this is no attempt to white-wash his story. It's just difficult to read.
I considered for a time that this could be a 5-star for me. I do really like many things Smoky has to offer as a story. But, for one reason or another, I couldn't commit so I posted a 4-star review. But the more I thought about the two instances above, the upset I got and downgraded again to 3-star. The book is still good, but I can give it the full recommendation. Newberry Medal winners are supposed to be awards for children's literature...and I couldn't conceived of me recommending this book to any child today. In fact, I started reading this book to my kids but they became disinterested...I suppose that's just as well.
I'm not a big fan of anthropomorphizing animals - it generally comes across to me as incredibly arrogant - but I felt Will James used it as well as I can expect for this story. James' use of this tactic felt not as an attempt to humanize Smoky, but to paint the picture of his life in a way the reader can most empathize.
Smoky's life, and thus the book, segregates well into five parts
I was taken aback by a couple of things. This book was written in 1925 and certainly was a different time back then...but it's still jarring to hear racially motivated slander. At one point a certain man is described as "a half-breed of Mexican and other blood that's darker". This was bad enough until a sheriff completely dismisses an active assault with "don't scatter than hombre's remains too much, you know we got to keep a record of that kind the same as if it was a white man". I don't mean to imply that James should have written this or should have removed it; this is no attempt to white-wash his story. It's just difficult to read.
I considered for a time that this could be a 5-star for me. I do really like many things Smoky has to offer as a story. But, for one reason or another, I couldn't commit so I posted a 4-star review. But the more I thought about the two instances above, the upset I got and downgraded again to 3-star. The book is still good, but I can give it the full recommendation. Newberry Medal winners are supposed to be awards for children's literature...and I couldn't conceived of me recommending this book to any child today. In fact, I started reading this book to my kids but they became disinterested...I suppose that's just as well.
How did I ever miss this books as a horse crazy child? And what can I say about it now? The story of Smoky the cow horse is mostly told in omniscient 3rd person, i.e. Smoky tells his story as if he's someone else; occasionally it's told by his cowboy Clint or another minor human character, but mostly it's Smoky POV. The author, Will James, originally wrote it for adults and it was serialized in Scribner's Magazine in 1926. Supposedly he was very surprised when it won the children's book award in 1927. It was held in relatively great acclaim during the 1920s, especially the author's artwork that illustrated several of the early editions. It's written in a folksy colloquial way which has irritated some recent reviewers, but in the '20s was not remarked on except as an example of how cowboys would have told the story. One reviewer notes that it might not be a "faked" dialect at all given that Will James was not a native English speaker; the name is the nom de plume of one Joseph Ernest Nephtali Dufault who was born in 1892 in Quebec, Canada, and grew up speaking French. He left his family when he was 15 and moved to Saskatchewan then into Wyoming by 1910 where he worked with cattle and horses. The other issue that may confound a modern reader is the casual racism in the book. There is a villain, a man of mixed-race (Mexican and a "darker" race) who is referred to as the halfbreed or simply the 'breed'. Smoky comes to hate that man (who is extremely abusive) and extends his hatred to everything human but especially the dark-skinned - an understandable reaction. Maybe it would be nice to have a non-white character show Smoky the error of his hate, the story doesn't happen that way. There is another Mexican, a vaquero, who is described as freckle-faced, who eventually rides Smoky aka The Cougar during his man-hating bronco rodeo days, and there are a couple other characters who are called hombres who don't seem to raise Smoky's ire - but these occur after his spirit is broken. Smoky's life follows an arc similar to that of Black Beauty: happy childhood, wonderful first owner, wretchedness, a descent towards death, and redemption/happy retirement. Would I recommend this book? Yes - any person who loves horses would enjoy this book. I read this for my 2017 Reading Challenge "Read the World" and my "Read the Newbery Challenge" (Newbery Award 1927).