As Wakara learns to handle her grief and disappointment following her mother's death, her family pulls together--then more tragedy a forest fire out of control. Ages 12 and up.
I received this book as a kid back in my horse-loving days from a Christian bookstore, but looked at the pretty horse on the cover and never read it till now.
I was a bit leery of it, as the main character is Wakara, who has Native American roots. To my relief, this isn't one of those "uh oh, they're going to villainize native cultures and show them the Truth through God" books though. And actually, this book is not at all heavy-handed in their use of Christianity.
What I mean is, people talk like normal people and not like robotic prophets. God is invoked in a way that feels supportive and realistic within a family. There is also thankfully no troublesome blatent athiest/mean god-hating person to serve as the unrealistic antagonist.
So that was a nice change of pace.
A nice adventure book that also focuses on grief and how everyone handles it differently.
Great story with excellent morals. At times the writing feels a bit forced though. This story was definitely written to teach a lesson, but it's a good one, and well worth the read.