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Red River Stallion
There's nothing stranger than the sight of a new creature in your land. It can seem almost magical. When a young orphan named Amelia first spots a red stallion, she is convinced he is her spirit guide, what her tribe calls a pawakan. But the beautiful Foxfire's journey is not over--he's headed west to the Red River valley.
When she learns that the horse will be leaving soon, Amelia worries that the magic she felt in his presence is gone. But then Amelia discovers a long-lost letter from her father--a man she's never met--asking his family to join him in the Red River valley. Should Amelia stay with her mother's tribe in the only world she's ever known or follow Foxfire and the hope that her father may still be alive?
Vivid and moving, Red River Stallion is a heartwarming story of a girl and her horse finding their way in the world together.
When she learns that the horse will be leaving soon, Amelia worries that the magic she felt in his presence is gone. But then Amelia discovers a long-lost letter from her father--a man she's never met--asking his family to join him in the Red River valley. Should Amelia stay with her mother's tribe in the only world she's ever known or follow Foxfire and the hope that her father may still be alive?
Vivid and moving, Red River Stallion is a heartwarming story of a girl and her horse finding their way in the world together.
329 pages, Hardcover
First published February 12, 2013
About the author
Troon Harrison
88 books9 followersTroon Harrison is an internationally published, award winning author, an editor, and a qualified teacher. Troon writes picture books, teen-adult cross-over novels, and junior chapter books. She has 24 books published in a range of genres including historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 9, 2018
3.5 stars
When Amelia Otterchild Mackenzie nearly drowns in the spot where the Hayes River meets the Hudson Bay, she is saved by a mysterious, giant red creature with four legs and red fur, a red mane and a tail. Amelia, raised by her Creek mother at a Hudson's Bay Company fort has never seen a horse. She is convinced that this creature is her pawakan, her spirit animal who will help her figure out a way to save herself and her little sister Charlotte Bright Eyes from starvation. Amelia soon learns that the creature is called a horse and he has been brought all the way from a strange place called Norfolk in England. England is near Scotland where Amelia's father and stepfather came from. It seems like a sign that the horse's destiny is to reach a settlement on the Red River where Amelia's father was last heard from. Should she follow Foxfire and his Englishwoman owner or stay with her own people?
This story is a really fascinating look at 1830s Canada. The history of the Hudson's Bay Company is somewhat known to me but the Homeguard Cree and the journey Amelia takes is new to me. I would have given this book 4 stars if a)the author had included an author's note with historical information and maps and b)the author was not so focused on horses and c)if this book had been written by a descendant of someone like Amelia. I had a hard time putting the book down. Every chapter was exciting and I wondered where Amelia's journey would take her next. At times there was a little too much on horses : the history of horses, caring for horses, etc. It bogged down the plot and made the story a little boring in spots.
I loved the historical detail woven into the story. The contrast between the English gentry way of life in the 1830s vs. the Cree way is very marked. Amelia is very much a traditionalist. Though she feels she has one foot in her mother's culture and one in her father's, she has been brought up to value and honor her Creek ancestral traditions. Her Auntie is working it out that the animals have been over hunted and as a result, the people are starving. I wish there was an epilogue or sequel to show the reader what happens to Amelia's family.
I really liked Amelia's voice. She sounds like a confused teen girl at first and grows into a confident young woman. Since her mother's death, she has been mother and sister to sweet little Charlotte and caring for her younger sister weighs heavily on her shoulders. Her father's disappearance when she was just a baby and abandonment of Charlotte's father has also shaped Amelia. She worries a lot about making the right choice and where she belongs. I empathized with her. Amelia's little sister Charlotte is about 7 years old and very sweet. She is still young enough to be innocent yet troubled over her mother's death and her father's abandonment. Charlotte's sunnier personality is a good contrast to Amelia's.
Foxfire, the roan colored Norfolk Trotter is the second major character and the title character of this novel. He is proud, independent and spirited. For some reason Foxfire responds well to Amelia. She feels his soul within hers. His owner, an Englishwoman named Orchid is a tough woman. If she let herself, she'd have a lot in common with Amelia's Auntie but Orchid was raised in a wealthy English gentry family and she sees Canada as exotic, wild and untamed and feels the same about the people. She continually annoyed me but yet she also seemed to come to more of an understanding about her new home than most English women. I didn't blame her for making the best of her situation and using her brains and her horse to get her out of her desperate situation.
As in most young adult novels, there is a requisite mean girl. I didn't like or trust Eva from the start. However, she made a practical choice and given what we now know about the history of European and indigenous relations, she probably made the right choice. Yet my rebellious spirit sided with Amelia. There's also a love interest. I didn't really like Amelia's love interest. He seems a little too arrogant and I don't like the senseless killing of the buffalo. Of course I look at it from the perspective of almost 200 years later and can see what happened to the buffalo, whereas the Metis are just trying to preserve their way of life and get along with the European settlers the best they can.
I would probably recommend this book to horse mad girls of about 11-14. Fans of the Dear Canada series would probably enjoy this too.
When Amelia Otterchild Mackenzie nearly drowns in the spot where the Hayes River meets the Hudson Bay, she is saved by a mysterious, giant red creature with four legs and red fur, a red mane and a tail. Amelia, raised by her Creek mother at a Hudson's Bay Company fort has never seen a horse. She is convinced that this creature is her pawakan, her spirit animal who will help her figure out a way to save herself and her little sister Charlotte Bright Eyes from starvation. Amelia soon learns that the creature is called a horse and he has been brought all the way from a strange place called Norfolk in England. England is near Scotland where Amelia's father and stepfather came from. It seems like a sign that the horse's destiny is to reach a settlement on the Red River where Amelia's father was last heard from. Should she follow Foxfire and his Englishwoman owner or stay with her own people?
This story is a really fascinating look at 1830s Canada. The history of the Hudson's Bay Company is somewhat known to me but the Homeguard Cree and the journey Amelia takes is new to me. I would have given this book 4 stars if a)the author had included an author's note with historical information and maps and b)the author was not so focused on horses and c)if this book had been written by a descendant of someone like Amelia. I had a hard time putting the book down. Every chapter was exciting and I wondered where Amelia's journey would take her next. At times there was a little too much on horses : the history of horses, caring for horses, etc. It bogged down the plot and made the story a little boring in spots.
I loved the historical detail woven into the story. The contrast between the English gentry way of life in the 1830s vs. the Cree way is very marked. Amelia is very much a traditionalist. Though she feels she has one foot in her mother's culture and one in her father's, she has been brought up to value and honor her Creek ancestral traditions. Her Auntie is working it out that the animals have been over hunted and as a result, the people are starving. I wish there was an epilogue or sequel to show the reader what happens to Amelia's family.
I really liked Amelia's voice. She sounds like a confused teen girl at first and grows into a confident young woman. Since her mother's death, she has been mother and sister to sweet little Charlotte and caring for her younger sister weighs heavily on her shoulders. Her father's disappearance when she was just a baby and abandonment of Charlotte's father has also shaped Amelia. She worries a lot about making the right choice and where she belongs. I empathized with her. Amelia's little sister Charlotte is about 7 years old and very sweet. She is still young enough to be innocent yet troubled over her mother's death and her father's abandonment. Charlotte's sunnier personality is a good contrast to Amelia's.
Foxfire, the roan colored Norfolk Trotter is the second major character and the title character of this novel. He is proud, independent and spirited. For some reason Foxfire responds well to Amelia. She feels his soul within hers. His owner, an Englishwoman named Orchid is a tough woman. If she let herself, she'd have a lot in common with Amelia's Auntie but Orchid was raised in a wealthy English gentry family and she sees Canada as exotic, wild and untamed and feels the same about the people. She continually annoyed me but yet she also seemed to come to more of an understanding about her new home than most English women. I didn't blame her for making the best of her situation and using her brains and her horse to get her out of her desperate situation.
As in most young adult novels, there is a requisite mean girl. I didn't like or trust Eva from the start. However, she made a practical choice and given what we now know about the history of European and indigenous relations, she probably made the right choice. Yet my rebellious spirit sided with Amelia. There's also a love interest. I didn't really like Amelia's love interest. He seems a little too arrogant and I don't like the senseless killing of the buffalo. Of course I look at it from the perspective of almost 200 years later and can see what happened to the buffalo, whereas the Metis are just trying to preserve their way of life and get along with the European settlers the best they can.
I would probably recommend this book to horse mad girls of about 11-14. Fans of the Dear Canada series would probably enjoy this too.
Read
June 30, 2017even though the cover on the book says there is magic, actually there is none. It's a historical book about an Indian girl who finds a red horse.
March 11, 2016
Amelia Otterchild Mackenzie sees a strange creature in her vision quest and someone who doesn't recognize his/her pawakan (spirit guide) will never prosper in life. Yet soon after she meets the very creature who came to her and he saves her life. Amelia's life is changed forever by a horse.
This is a beautiful story filled with vibrant writing about a way of life that has passed. The author manages to say so much about the historical record without lecturing - just letting the story flow. In the end, Amelia feels like a friend and readers are glad that she is finding her way.
Recommend for those that like to dig deep into characters, historical fiction and/or those that like horses. Although this can be read by younger students, I think middle schoolers and up would enjoy this the most.
This is a beautiful story filled with vibrant writing about a way of life that has passed. The author manages to say so much about the historical record without lecturing - just letting the story flow. In the end, Amelia feels like a friend and readers are glad that she is finding her way.
Recommend for those that like to dig deep into characters, historical fiction and/or those that like horses. Although this can be read by younger students, I think middle schoolers and up would enjoy this the most.
August 20, 2013
Recommended for gr. 6-9. Historical fiction set in 1800's Canada. Amelia Otterchild Mackenzie is a child of two worlds: her mother a Native American who died of an illness, and her father a Scottish trapper who left on a trading voyage years ago. She is seeking her spirit guide, and when a horse saves her life, she believes she has found it. She goes in search of her father many days' journey away. Descriptions of both the European settlements and the Native camps are very vivid, and Amelia's relationship with nature is well-described. Horse-lovers will be very happy with this novel.
August 28, 2017
Amazing!
Amelia Otterchild Mackenzie is a Cree, native american girl who lives in Rupert land, Canada with her step-sister Charlotte Bright Eyes. For years they have been taught the Cree ways of their mother who has passed away. Amelia's father was a white trader who came to Rupert land and married Amelia's mother. He left shortly and promised he would return, though he never did. Amelia's mother married a new white man who was the father of Charlotte, and lived with Amelia's mother until she died, and then he left the girls on an adventure west.
Amelia and Charlotte, now orphans live with their aunt in Rupert land, where Amelia connects with her spirit animal, her pawakan, a red stallion who saves her as she is about to drown. The right pawakan can guide you through anything she is told, and she follows the red stallion named, Foxfire on a wild adventure west to find out clues about her original father, Simon Mackenzie and make sense of his broken promise.
On the journey, Amelia connects with Foxfire and befriends the horse's owner Orchid. But as they travel down the river, 600 miles to to the red river valley, Amelia and Charlotte do not know what their future holds. Will they find their father? Will Amelia be separated from Foxfire forever?
This beautiful, descriptive, heartfelt, and hopeful book, captured the love a girl and her horse has, through an inseparable bond that will last through time. Their souls are one and they will love each other forever. This captured what it is like to follow your dreams and wait for the next turn to take you on an adventure. Written in beautiful prose, this book is probably best for ages 10-13.
Amelia Otterchild Mackenzie is a Cree, native american girl who lives in Rupert land, Canada with her step-sister Charlotte Bright Eyes. For years they have been taught the Cree ways of their mother who has passed away. Amelia's father was a white trader who came to Rupert land and married Amelia's mother. He left shortly and promised he would return, though he never did. Amelia's mother married a new white man who was the father of Charlotte, and lived with Amelia's mother until she died, and then he left the girls on an adventure west.
Amelia and Charlotte, now orphans live with their aunt in Rupert land, where Amelia connects with her spirit animal, her pawakan, a red stallion who saves her as she is about to drown. The right pawakan can guide you through anything she is told, and she follows the red stallion named, Foxfire on a wild adventure west to find out clues about her original father, Simon Mackenzie and make sense of his broken promise.
On the journey, Amelia connects with Foxfire and befriends the horse's owner Orchid. But as they travel down the river, 600 miles to to the red river valley, Amelia and Charlotte do not know what their future holds. Will they find their father? Will Amelia be separated from Foxfire forever?
This beautiful, descriptive, heartfelt, and hopeful book, captured the love a girl and her horse has, through an inseparable bond that will last through time. Their souls are one and they will love each other forever. This captured what it is like to follow your dreams and wait for the next turn to take you on an adventure. Written in beautiful prose, this book is probably best for ages 10-13.
July 14, 2025
It's okay, decent writing style and all. I think I would have enjoyed this more when I was school aged.
March 10, 2017
AWESOME!
SO COOL!
SO LIT!
BEST BOOK EVER!
2 DIE FOR!
SO COOL!
SO LIT!
BEST BOOK EVER!
2 DIE FOR!
September 24, 2013
Took me a while to get into this book, but once I did I loved it. The author has a very descriptive writing style, and therefore the story's a little slow--especially at first. In keeping with this, I read it slowly, and I think that made all the difference for me. Reading the story over the span of a week gave it time to grow on me and left me time to enjoy the beautiful writing. Some books just can't be gobbled, you know? That's something I'm still learning.
(Of course, I didn't have very much time to read this week either, but...anyway)
The story gave wonderful insight to the lives of Canadian natives in the 1800s. I learned a lot. The girl had never seen a horse before, so seeing a horse through her eyes was very interesting. Speaking of this, however, I have to note that while a "white woman" taught her a lot about horses, there were still instances where she just seemed to know terms that hadn't been mentioned to her before, which I found a little out of character. But again, it could be assumed the woman told her about those as well, I'm just saying that was my take on it.
So overall? I really enjoyed the story. Always nice to have a bittersweet yet not painful-to-the-feels story with great characters that teaches me something about the world. :)
(Of course, I didn't have very much time to read this week either, but...anyway)
The story gave wonderful insight to the lives of Canadian natives in the 1800s. I learned a lot. The girl had never seen a horse before, so seeing a horse through her eyes was very interesting. Speaking of this, however, I have to note that while a "white woman" taught her a lot about horses, there were still instances where she just seemed to know terms that hadn't been mentioned to her before, which I found a little out of character. But again, it could be assumed the woman told her about those as well, I'm just saying that was my take on it.
So overall? I really enjoyed the story. Always nice to have a bittersweet yet not painful-to-the-feels story with great characters that teaches me something about the world. :)
February 12, 2014
Every now and then I like to pick up a young adult novel and see how much I enjoy reading it. This one takes place in the 1800's in Canada and it follows the story of Amelia Otterchild Mackenzie and her younger half sister, Charlotte. Both girls are part Cree Indian and go to live with their mother's tribe once their father's have disappeared. They have a happy life, but do wonder why their father's have never returned for them. One day, Amelia rescues a large animal that she has never seen before. It is a beautiful stallion that has been swept off of a ship. Amelia falls in love with the horse and does return it to it's owner...where she and her sister begin a new journey on their own...including locating Amelia's father.
A quick fun read, if you are into horse stories.
A quick fun read, if you are into horse stories.
February 9, 2017
Entertaining and sufficiently horsey enough for horse lovers. There is a nice (yet sketchy) historical section at the end. I have no idea if this book was historically accurate. I do have a beef with the cover artist, though. The horse and this image never appears in the book. It's one of my pet peeves, you see, book cover artists.
Also -- how many times do we have to read about a horse getting caught in quicksand (or quicksand-like material?) Please, horse writers of the world, STOP DOING THAT.
Also -- how many times do we have to read about a horse getting caught in quicksand (or quicksand-like material?) Please, horse writers of the world, STOP DOING THAT.
July 23, 2014
gr 5-8 339 pgs
1830s, Canada. 14 year old Amelia Otterchild Mackenzie is caught between two worlds: her mother's Cree Indian and her father's Scottish-Canadian. On her vision quest, Amelia wasn't even able to identify her spirit guide. To make matters even worse, her stepfather is returning to England leaving Amelia and her younger sister on their own. Then Amelia meets the horse Foxfire and everything becomes clear. Her spirit guide is a horse and she is meant to help Foxfire on his journey west to the Red River Valley. Once, there she hopes to find her father.
I would recommend this story to reader who enjoy books about horses.
1830s, Canada. 14 year old Amelia Otterchild Mackenzie is caught between two worlds: her mother's Cree Indian and her father's Scottish-Canadian. On her vision quest, Amelia wasn't even able to identify her spirit guide. To make matters even worse, her stepfather is returning to England leaving Amelia and her younger sister on their own. Then Amelia meets the horse Foxfire and everything becomes clear. Her spirit guide is a horse and she is meant to help Foxfire on his journey west to the Red River Valley. Once, there she hopes to find her father.
I would recommend this story to reader who enjoy books about horses.
Currently Reading
January 8, 2016Im going to read this book soon.
My sister read this book not to long ago.
She says it is a good book.
My sister LOVES to read.
She LOVES horses too.
Thats probobly why she got the book.
I think this is going to be a good book.
Because my sister has TONS of books,
and she knows what is ineresting I read lots of her other books and there REALLY ineresting.
I can tell you some ineresting books I read of my sisters.
They are Trumpet of the swan,My first pony,Hold the rein free,Skinnybones and Junie B. jones.
Skinnybones and Junie B. jones is wrote by the same athour, are REALY funny books.
I hope you love these books.
My sister read this book not to long ago.
She says it is a good book.
My sister LOVES to read.
She LOVES horses too.
Thats probobly why she got the book.
I think this is going to be a good book.
Because my sister has TONS of books,
and she knows what is ineresting I read lots of her other books and there REALLY ineresting.
I can tell you some ineresting books I read of my sisters.
They are Trumpet of the swan,My first pony,Hold the rein free,Skinnybones and Junie B. jones.
Skinnybones and Junie B. jones is wrote by the same athour, are REALY funny books.
I hope you love these books.
May 4, 2013
A warm, realistic, tender portrayal that all readers of all ages can delight in. Poignantly haunting, difficult to put down, so real that the characters will linger in the mind of the reader for days afterwards. A masterpiece of authentically captured, fictionalized history. Another Marguerite Henry in the making !!!
June 22, 2013
I enjoyed reading this book. If you love horses or want to learn about horses this book is for you. I also tells a lot about the Indian culture. The book is placed in Canada in the 1800's. It ends very well and the author ties it up beautifully.
February 10, 2014
One Sentence Review: Admittedly it's been a little while since I read it, but I remember enjoying it (though I suspect a horse lover would get even more of a kick out of it) and appreciating the representations found here of the American Indian tribes.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews