Bold Beauty

Winnie the Horse Gentler #3

by Dandi Daley Mackall

Twelve-year-old Winnie Willis has a way with horses. She can gentle the wildest mare, but other parts of life don't always come as easily. Along with her dad and sister, Lizzy, Winnie is learning how to live without her mom―who was also a natural horse gentler. As Winnie teaches horses about unconditional love and blind trust, God shows Winnie that he can be trusted as well. Readers will be hooked on the series' vivid characters, whose quirky personalities fill Winnie's life with friendship and adventure.

#3 Bold Beauty― Winnie's confidence begins to crumble as she faces the toughest challenge of her horse-gentling career and her first failure. Winnie slips into a web of deceit and distress until she discovers the true source of genuine confidence.

Genres: Horses, Christian, Contemporary, Christian Fiction, Middle Grade, Fiction, Childrens

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

About the author

A professional writer for over 20 years, Dandi Daley Mackall has written dozens of articles for popular magazines and published around 500 books for children and adults alike, with sales of over 4 million.

A frequent guest on radio and television talk shows, she lives in rural Ohio with her husband, three children, horses, dogs, & cats. Awards include the Edgar Award for Best YA Mystery, the Helen Keating Ott Award for Contributions to Children's Literature; Distinguished Alumni Award from Mizzou; ALA Best Book; Christian Children's Book of the Year, Amelia Bloom, Mom's Choice Awards. Her YA novel, My Boyfriends' Dogs, is now a Hallmark movie.

Reviews

[Bcs (Sarah. B) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bold Beauty  Dandi Daley Mackall    Five Stars

Join Winnie as she learns that with God, all things are possible as she
must face her first failure as a horse whisper.

Overview:
Profanity/language: None
Romance/sex: None
Adventure/Action: A small amount—not much, but there was a little bit.
Faith: Strong.
Other: There is talk of abortion—it’s in a debate. The ‘good’ characters are against it, thankfully.

Synopsis:
  Winnie takes on a jumping horse, trying to train Bold Beauty to be able to jump properly, but she runs into some trouble. To top it all off there is a debate coming up. She fully agrees that abortion is bad, but she is afraid that she will ruin the debate by her struggle to speak in front of a crowed.

This was a perfect addition to the Winnie the Horse Gentler series. Winnie is still struggling; she has fears and trouble letting things go.
We get to grow with Winnie as she learns lessons as she struggles through life. From what I could tell, there were no inconsistencies, nor did it drag.  It is a middle-grade book, so the style is a little bit simpler but it is also able to keep older readers interested.
    I was able to connect more with Winnie and the new character, M, because of their struggles to talk with others, especially in front of a
group; something I can fully relate to.

Favourites/Feelings:
The debate is my absolute favourite part! We get to see, factually, how wrong abortion is, and we get to see M, my favourite and least known character, brake out of his silence to bring home exactly what abortion is.  “You can’t pick a time because life starts at conception,” M stated. “No other point where you can draw a life line.”
  My second favourite quote is this: I said three words, and M none. They are trying to get ready for the debate. Probably not the best thing to
have two, three if you count Catman, very silent people on the team.
    M… he is mysterious, and I so want to know more about him... But also Winnie as she is relatable.
Definitely my favourite of this series so far.
Five stars. Going on my re-read shelf.

[Alaina]

rtc

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edit 02/06/15: I got bored and reread the second half of this. I mentioned the whole rape and abortion thing in my original mini review and I'm going to mention it again. Abortion is a tricky topic. There really is no right answer to the issue. On one hand, abortion is destroying a life. On another hand, women should have a right to choose and if not for abortion, many children could grow up in unsuitable homes or be abandoned. There's a debate about abortion at their school, and the characters choose their sides. All the good characters choose the "pro-life" side and the bad characters argue in favour of abortion. Not cool. Winnie's (the main character) teacher, Pat tells her that they need more people to argue in favour of it, and that God will help her because Winnie is arguing against abortion, which is what's RIGHT. Not cool. Winnie reacts in disbelief when she heard that another character is arguing in favour of abortion (I can't be bothered finding a quote because I'm tired, but it goes along the lines of "wow, I can't believe he/she would argue for abortion!")

I felt like the author was shoving her own beliefs down my throat. I don't have a distinct opinion for or against abortion, and I don't appreciate a children's book trying to force one on me.

Rape is also mentioned in the debate as something that causes unwanted pregnancy.

Seriously, this book is meant for 10 year olds. It's super inappropriate to cover such topics in a children's book, and I really hated the way that the book tried to force abortion views on me. I would not recommend this for anyone below the age of 14. Or to anyone really. It's a shame, since the series is otherwise pretty good.

Original review: This book was awesome. Seriously, I can't believe I just read a middle grade horse book and liked it so much.

However, there are references to abortion and rape in this book, which make it inappropriate for younger readers. Honestly, I wish those could have been taken out.

[Sai · Rating 4 out of 5]

El libro no estuvo mal, tiene lindas enseñanzas, te recuerda que las cosas imposibles para uno, no son nada para Dios y con su ayuda se puede lograr, y que aunque uno lo dude u olvide siempre hay personas que te apoyaran.

Se me hizo insufrible en algunos momentos la actitud que toma Winnie. Por un lado se entiende: no quiere admitir que tiene miedo, que falló en lo único que se considera buena y eso aumento su desconfianza en si misma perjudicando cualquier otra cosa que intentara hacer. Por el otro lado era como: "Chica, ¡reacciona! La gente se preocupa por ti", "¿En serio te molestas con Catman? Esa caída pudo terminar peor". Quería lanzar el libro lejos por lo enojada que me ponía Winnie.

_*_*_*_

The book was not bad, it has nice teachings, it reminds you that things impossible for one, are nothing for God and with his help can be achieved, and that even if one doubts or forgets it there are always people who will support you.

I was made insufferable at times by the attitude that Winnie takes. On the one hand, he does not want to admit that he is afraid, that he failed only what is considered good, and that increased his mistrust of himself by harming anything else he tries to do. On the other hand it was like: "Girl, react! People care about you," " Do you really bother with catman? That fall might have ended worse." I wanted to throw the book away because of how angry Winnie was.

[Becca Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read all 8 Winnie books and think as a series that they a great.

This one was a little more intense and it showed Winnie struggling with her hardships. I didn’t really like when she tries something dangerous and then ends up falling off Bold Beauty.

I like the little ‘note to self’ parts that Miss. Mackall adds in.

I REALLY LOVED the abortion debate that Miss. Mackall put in there, and I loved Summer’s and her team’s reaction when M said what he did.

I LOVED the verse ‘ With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.’. My version is a NIV version, I think the version in the book is a different version than this one.

I love the idea of the help pet line, I wish there was one. If you do know of one please contact me. If there isn’t one I might just make one myself. I’ll post on my profile on Goodreads if I do end up making a help pet line.

-Becca (ba758369@gmail.com)

[Tess H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book!

[Emory Ivie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winnie Willis dreams of jumping her horse, Nickers. She already practices during her morningly rides, but her Arabian isn't built for the taller jumps. When she finds out that the Spidells are "training" a beautiful chestnut mare - a hunter - for a newlywed couple, she just has to check it out. Bold Beauty, as Winnie has named this spirited animal, isn't improving at all. In fact, she's losing confidence, and her owners are wondering if she's even worth the efforts. Winnie claims she can gentle Beauty in two weeks, and she would do it the right way. The owners agree, and Beauty is taken to Winnie's place. But, after injuring herself after a terrible fall, Winnie begins to lose her own confidence. Did she make too big of a promise?

This exciting sequel to Eager Star will wrap you in Winnie's spiritual journey as she discovers more about herself and the mare she has committed to. You can learn so much from these novels, and I highly encourage you to read them!

[lilyy · Rating 4 out of 5]

okayy. so, first of all, she falls off her horse. HOW IS SHE OKAY?? i mean yeah, maybe she's an experienced rider and all that, but.. and how did her parents not notice any bruises or scars or whatever? personally, my guilty conscience would have eaten at me if i kept a whole lie like that. this shows confidence and self-esteem, even though this may not be Mackall's best work.

other than that, i liked this book.

[Twyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite part was when Winnie and Bold Beauty managed to jump over the hedge eventually. My least favorite part was when Winnie kept lying and pretending she still had all of her confidence when she really didn't.

[Blaise-Noel Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the book, and the whole series so far. I knocked one star off, just because to me it isn't very realistic...like for me, if I fell off, I would have told a lot of people. And, how did her parents not see any cuts or bruises on Winnie?? but other than that, I loved the book!!!

[Addy C · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a very good book and I'm excited to read the next book in the series.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

See the first book in the series for a full review.

[Gracie Schlabach · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third book of this series, covers the ups and downs of Winnie's first real horse clients.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The one thing keeping me going with this series is Catman. He's my favorite character for sure.

[Elivia Kanatiquelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is our source of true confidence! With Him, we can soar any hedge!

[TN · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back at it again, Winnie brings to the light what a lovely horse bold beauty is. The Spindler horse stable can’t get bold beauty to jump because they are scarring her. The couple that were going to buy bold beauty are doubting her now, so Winnie steps on and says she will train bold beauty to jump. In the end, Winnie successes and bold beauty ended up in a happy home giving Winnie the horse gentler another gold star.
Better than the first book, and shows how confidence and persistence can pay off.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these books when I was younger, and when I went back and re-read them, enjoyed them just as much. I appreciate how much Winnie grows in each book, yet that no one grows too unbelievably much.

Thank you Dandi Daley Mackall for eight great books!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best series ever. A must read book. (reccomended for pre-teens)

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series! Read my review for the first book of the series for more details on my opinion(;

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

They are all part of an amazing series I absuloutly love Them

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really good, and I think it is really sad how Beauty was hurt, but it was still great.

[Greta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book to. So touching and definitely kept my interest the whole journey!

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that this book was about facing your fears and trusting to God to help you, especially when your problems are too big for you.

[Brianna Vitale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book!!!

[Anna Ritzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really great book!!