GREAT ILLUSTRATED CLASSICS - BLACK BEAUTY

by Deidre S. Laiken (Adapter), Anna Sewell, Malvina G. Vogel (Editor)

THIS IS H/C BOOK THAT WILL APPEAL TO ANY YOUNG CHILD. IT IS A CLASSIC.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Childrens, Animals, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Historical Fiction

240 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Amit · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0 ⭐

GENRE - FICTION / KIDS CLASSIC / DRAMA.

Pretty easy read, a story about horses and stables and the struggles and cruelty they face by humans.
This is a children’s classic edition it’s a good read for beginners specially kids who have a keen interest in reading and want to develop a healthy habit of reading.

I read this book as a child and have fond memories of it and reread again just to bring back old memories.A 5 ⭐️ worth book.

Thank you ☺️

[Briar's Reviews · Rating 1 out of 5]

I want to read a lot of the classics, it's a general goal of mine. I like seeing what people deem to be so incredible and how they stand against the ages.

I read this middle grade version of Black Beauty and the writing style did me in. I had to DNF. I couldn't actually finish it. I'll have to pick up the original version of Black Beauty and try my way through that. I accidentally got the middle grade version by mistake, I think it hard the wrong cover on it. Regardless, I'll try again one day. But this one... the writing style was definitely made for young audiences and I couldn't stand it. It was too simple.

One out of five stars.

[Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A marvel! Every horse movie that ever was is based on this novel. It’s the greatest horse novel ever written. I hope I write the standard-bearer for a whole genre someday.

[TrishaIyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about the life of a horse and it is just amazing.I what I really like about this book is the storylines so if you want to know what happens erad this book.

[Neeraj SK]

This book will surely make the reader aware of the hardships that horses have to go through in their lives.
If the reader owns a pet or owned a pet (any animal), this book will especially be a boon for her/him as he will be able to connect at a deeper level with the pet after reading this book.

The author has kept the language simple and yet all the simplicity has such profound emotional effect on the reader's heart that it is hard to believe that 'Black Beauty' is Anna Seawell's first and only book.

A must read indeed...

[Cindy aka "The Book Fairy" · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovelt adaption of a classic...read many times to my daughter as she loved it :)

[Maisie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first novel I ever finished on my own, it was my mother's own copy and the first book she'd ever read herself. It touched my little childhood heart, and broke it a little too. This book has been held in my cherished memories all these years.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never been big on horses, but this story was enjoyable nonetheless.

[Mila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!!!!!!

[Allison Thibault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic short read. Loved the story when I was young, still love it today. Could re-read everyday and never get tired of it

[kanishk · Rating 5 out of 5]

i remember reading this book, i felt the urge to be an author myself and wrote a rip off with the same title...well let's just say...my writing career never took off..and, that's for the better ♡

[Dana]

Black Beauty has had 9 masters over her lifetime, but only 5 of them treated her well:
Her birth master, “Master”
Squire Gordon of Birtwick Park
Mr. York
Mr. Barry (whose groom was Filcher)
Jerry Barker, the nice cab driver
Jakes, driver for the corn dealer
Mr. Skinner, mean cab driver
Mr. Farmer Thoroughgood
Miss Ellen

A few words about the masters:

Squire Gordon was very good to Beauty, and she loved the three happy years she spent there. But the mistress got sick and had to move to warm places.

Jerry Barker, a cab driver whose real name was Jeremiah, was great to Beauty. He had a nice daughter and son and his wife was named Polly. But he got dangerously ill, and the family moved to the country.

Do not you think it is odd that both of these exceptionally nice masters had to move because of health-related family matters?

The only mean horse that Black Beauty ever met was Ginger, but they grew up to be best friends. Ginger had suffered a harder life than Beauty, so it was only natural for her to be a little mean-tempered sometimes. One day, when Beauty was still Jerry Barker’s cab horse, a pitiful sight of a horse pulled up a cab, and Beauty saw it was his old friend Ginger with the same chestnut color, although the once shiny and glossy coat was now beaten up and missing in places. She looked half-dead, so Beauty wanted to believe that this horse was not Ginger, but it was. Later, they saw a dead horse being towed to the burial place on a cart, and Beauty saw the chestnut color and hoped it was Ginger, to end her long suffering.

Merrylegs was a fat gray pony, but it’s not clear whether he was a boy or a girl. I think Merrylegs is male, but there is no conclusive evidence or proof. What do you think? Merrylegs was often thought of as a machine by the little boys, and they mistreated him cruelly, by hitting him with sticks to make him keep going.

Speaking of little boys mistreating horses, there are boys who are awfully mean in this book to all the horses, not just to Merrylegs:

Case 1: Black Beauty and her mother Duchess lived with their first master. But there was a boy who liked to steal blackberries from Mr. Master and throw stones at the horses, which really hurt the horses.

Case 2: Filcher was employed as the groom when Beauty was under the care of Mr. Barry, her fourth owner. Filcher brought a child everyday with him to work, and the child stole Beauty’s oats, making her very thin. The child and Filcher both went to jail after their plot was discovered.

I think, if anything, the illustrations are beautiful, even if the book is sad and filled with hatred, yet also with kindness. I don't know, but who do you think the girl on the cover is?

[Kiley]

Kiley White
English-2

My review is about the book "Black Beauty" by Anna Sewell. The book black beauty is told from the horses point of view and is about a beautiful black horse that was born and lived on a beautiful meadow with his mother and kind master. For the first four years of his life, Beauty is well cared for. His mother gives him sound advice and his owner is gentle. Beauty is then trained to pull cabs in the city. The work is hard and very dirty, which he is not at all accustomed to.
Throughout the novel, Beauty's name changes with his different owners.Every owner has been mean to him and abused him except his first owner. When this man buys him he hates the owner but meets a beautiful chestnut mare named ginger. He falls in love with her, then his owner sells him. towards the middle of the book black beauty is pulling a carriage while it raining and he comes to a bridge and it breaks. The river is very fast and suddenly beauty stops and saves his master. Later, beauty is pulling a cart through town and he sees a cart go beside him and sees ginger in the back with her tongue out and dripping blood. in the end beauty is reunited with squire Gordon and the children. Although, it has a cheesy ending it is one of my favorite books ever. It is a truly inspiring book about pain, cruelty, beauty, and happiness. In conclusion, I definatley recommend this book its truly inspiring.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally finished this miserable book. There are some admirable qualities to the messages it conveys, especially to young readers, about maltreatment of horses. The author could have been a little less forceful and obvious in making her points. This reminded me of when I watched the movie Welcome to the Dollhouse many years ago…a movie in which you just watch the main character repeatedly suffer time and time again. I can’t really recommend this book…I feel there have to be a number of modern books and documentaries that can make the same points to readers and audience members regarding humane and loving care for horses and animals in general.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always loved this book growing up. I hadn't read it since I was in middle school, and it is a story that I could read over and over again. It's beautifully written and pulls at your heart. I recommend it for anyone, adults and children.

[Angel Sandoval · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is about a colt a black one and follows his life of good masters and bad ones. I liked this book because I like horses and I like reading. I would recommend this book to Ambar because she likes reading this kind of book.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up out of the unit box at the camp I volunteer at. The girls in the cabin were going into 4-6th grade, and I read it aloud over three nights. I enjoyed the fact that the book is narrated by Beauty; I only knew of a few other classics like that. It really lacked human details, though, and I found myself wanting to rewrite chapters from the human perspective as a fun writing exercise. (Why was the master’s wife sick?, for example.)

A warning, though: this book is pretty real about the way horses were treated back then (and, I’m sure, in some places now). It doesn’t not leave humans with a favorable view of humankind, but only that there are kind exceptions to the rule. The parts surrounding Ginger (who appears several times across the book) are especially dark, with Ginger voicing aloud to Beauty that she wishes someone would shoot her and put her out of her misery. Beauty even feels this way a little when he gets hurt. In another chapter, Beauty sees Ginger looking especially bad and being led away, and then late Beauty thinks he sees Ginger dead in a cart that rolls by. Not good bedtime fare, but definitely realistic, and I enjoyed it in general.

[Navreet · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a heart warming story, the pain of animals and exploitation by humans done on poor creatures is beautifully depicted in it, also the good side of human is also beautifully shown. Reading this book I really losted in it like I'm really feeling their pain. The story goes around a horse called black beauty , from departure from his mother to his end journey . It also feature how when animal become old become useless, the whole hardwork and loyalty done by him in his age become wothless in unworthy people's eyes, and they just want to get rid of them at end . Many people see animals as fashion , cuts off dog's ears and pony tail's of horse don't even realising animal's pain. But many people are also good and feel animals are their friends .

In short ; It really worth reading for the book lovers.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mom used to have a bookshelf in her room that was dedicated to Great Illustrated Classics. I used to ask her to read them to me before bed or ask if I could read them myself when I was little. I couldn't read well when I originally read because I was around the age of seven so it took me a bit of time to read it. Since then I've read this book dozens of times. The copy my mom had before, unfortunately, got lost due to a house fire, but I'm hoping to find another copy soon so I can read it to my siblings. It's such a wonderful book that is so powerful. It shows the power people have over animals and that animals have thoughts and feelings all the same. Beauty is severely mistreated in a lot of his homes and throughout it all, you get his point of view. An insight into his brain and the workings of his thoughts and emotions from place to place. This is absolutely a must-read.

[Lady of the Ashes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Beauty has always held a special place in my heart, and revisiting it as an adult reminded me why it was one of my favorite childhood books. Anna Sewell has this amazing way of telling the story from Black Beauty’s perspective that makes you feel everything he feels—joy, fear, and the kindness (or cruelty) of the humans around him.

What I love most is how much the book makes you think about empathy and treating animals—and people—with care. Some parts are sad, but there’s also so much hope and sweetness in the friendships and bonds he forms.

Even now, it feels timeless. It’s simple, powerful, and stays with you long after you finish it. This is the kind of book that makes you want to be kinder, more patient, and more thoughtful. Definitely a classic that deserves all the love it gets.

[Makenna stull · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black beauty ( great Illustrated Classics). Black beauty is told from the horses point of view and is about a beautiful black horse that was born and lived on a beautiful meadow with his mother and kind master. For the first four years of his life, Beauty is well cared for. His mother gives him sound advice and his owner is gentle. Beauty is then trained to pull cabs in the city. The work is hard and very dirty, which he is not at all accustomed to.
If the reader owns a pet or owned a pet (any animal), this book will especially be easy for her/him to be able to connect at a deeper level with there pet after reading this book. I recommend this book to anyone also if you like or love animals.

[Marvey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rate: 1.5 Stars
If it was not for the illustrations, this would be a flat out 1 star. It just didn't follow the story that I thought it would, and at times it was bland and I got bored easily. I feel like if it took more time with each segment when Black Beauty was sold around, I may have enjoyed it better, not just quick description on how they treated him. Also the cover art if very deceiving, there was no young woman who rode him around with a smile.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.
I feel I should apologize to my mom who spent a decade recommending this book to me; it really is pretty well-written. Nevertheless, I stand with my younger self's opinion that I generally just don't enjoy animal stories. I also felt frustrated with the point of view problems where Black Beauty's narrative was interrupted to carry the story forward by his overhearing conversations he purportedly did not understand or care about but which furthered the general plot.

[Mariah Lapham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book many years ago when I was a kid and was just discovering my love for reading and I absolutely FELL IN LOVE with this book! I remember when I first read it, this book put me through a rollercoaster of emotions and I read and re-read it many times! I decided to re-read this book for nostalgia's sake and it is still a good quick read. This book will always hold a special place in my heart.

[Genelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took me way longer than it should have to read this because I couldn't separate myself from fiction and the obvious cruelty toward animals that went on back in Sewell's time. I read this many years ago as a kid, but it clearly didn't have the same effect on me back then, or I wouldn't have returned to this book. I can appreciate it as a wonderful story, and I'm glad it helped to raise awareness back when it was published, but the subject matter pains me too much, so I can't enjoy it.

[Jennifer Lam · Rating 5 out of 5]

the most favorite title in my childhood years. up until i found anne rice at the age of 8, i would re-read this title countless times and visualize the chapters in my head like a virtual reality movie. i dare say this book has contributed towards my love for horses and my rebellious trait at a young age, for which i simply listened to my heart and not the adults around me.

[Wes Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful bedtime story for my daughters. It really instills an appreciation for caring for animals. God did, after all, give it to mankind to tend the garden; to "conquer the Earth and subdue it"; we ought to do this reverently well. I think, perhaps, my girls are both a little less bothered by their chores of feeding the goats and the dog now that we've read this book.

[Lindsay Schroeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a child, and it honestly changed the way I looked at horses, and animals forever. I will be honest, this book is heartwrenchingly sad for a children's book, but still one I highly recommend. Kids have to learn how to cope with hard things, and the compassion a child can learn from this story is uniquely powerful.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this particular adaptation 3.5 stars. I have not read the original, full- version of Black Beauty, but I would like to. I was intrigued by and enjoyed hearing the story from the horse’s perspective. It really made me think about animals and how we, as humans, treat or mistreat them. But this adaptation was lacking in its ability to capture me fully. My daughter and I found it somewhat boring and repetitive in parts.

[Emma Brinks · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was very interesting but very sad because many of the homes that Black Beauty is placed in were not very nice homes for a horse, it is also sad because his friend Ginger die's in the end very very sad book.