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A review by happylilkt
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
3.0
I am really, really surprised that this classic is still in circulation as much as it is.
Firstly, Black Beauty is a sort of David Copperfield for horses but without the humor or overarching plot. Was it written/published as a serial? It reads as though it was.
Secondly, while I really like the preaching of humane treatment of horses (and implicitly, all animals), since this was written for an audience that interacted with horses for almost all modes of transportation it is not quite accessible to the modern reader, for whom it is rare to interact with a horse, if at all. (The historical horse jargon is especially baffling at times—since I read a fair amount of 19th century literature I actually didn't mind this as much as I found it mildly educational, and those who are familiar with horses will probably do just fine.)
Thirdly, it is so, so moralizing. Now, as a child I read quite a bit of the oeuvres of L.M. Montgomery and Louisa May Alcott, so I really can handle moralizing. It didn't even bother me whatsoever as a child! And so I wasn't surprised that my 6 and 7 year old children weren't fazed by that at all (maybe because adults are always preaching to you standards of behavior day in, day out, so it just feels normal?). But my husband would literally leave the room anytime I was reading this to the kids because it was so heavy handed. Every chapter had a very specific agenda so that it could cover almost every single way that horses could be mistreated so that the reader could be shown (or lectured about) what NOT to do. Again, I think for a younger reader this won't really be an issue or for those who are highly engaged with the subject .
It's actually a very sweet book, but it's VERY old-fashioned and I am guessing there is a narrow window for a select subset of children to enjoy this (Aside from the equiphiles of all ages out there, of course).
If you feel some need to read all of the Western juvenile classics, I don't want to dissuade you from reading this, BUT if you only want to read those that are still as enjoyable today as they were when they were first published and you are not that interested in animals, this could be one to skip.
Firstly, Black Beauty is a sort of David Copperfield for horses but without the humor or overarching plot. Was it written/published as a serial? It reads as though it was.
Secondly, while I really like the preaching of humane treatment of horses (and implicitly, all animals), since this was written for an audience that interacted with horses for almost all modes of transportation it is not quite accessible to the modern reader, for whom it is rare to interact with a horse, if at all. (The historical horse jargon is especially baffling at times—since I read a fair amount of 19th century literature I actually didn't mind this as much as I found it mildly educational, and those who are familiar with horses will probably do just fine.)
Thirdly, it is so, so moralizing. Now, as a child I read quite a bit of the oeuvres of L.M. Montgomery and Louisa May Alcott, so I really can handle moralizing. It didn't even bother me whatsoever as a child! And so I wasn't surprised that my 6 and 7 year old children weren't fazed by that at all (maybe because adults are always preaching to you standards of behavior day in, day out, so it just feels normal?). But my husband would literally leave the room anytime I was reading this to the kids because it was so heavy handed. Every chapter had a very specific agenda so that it could cover almost every single way that horses could be mistreated so that the reader could be shown (or lectured about) what NOT to do. Again, I think for a younger reader this won't really be an issue or for those who are highly engaged with the subject .
It's actually a very sweet book, but it's VERY old-fashioned and I am guessing there is a narrow window for a select subset of children to enjoy this (Aside from the equiphiles of all ages out there, of course).
If you feel some need to read all of the Western juvenile classics, I don't want to dissuade you from reading this, BUT if you only want to read those that are still as enjoyable today as they were when they were first published and you are not that interested in animals, this could be one to skip.