Astra

by Chris Platt

Riding Astra makes Lily feel closer to her mom--even if Lily's dad blames horses for her mother's deathAt thirteen, Lily O'Neil dreams of riding Arabian endurance horses in the Sierra Nevada foothills like her mom once did--before her fatal accident. Now, Lily's father has forbidden her from going near horses ever again--he's even sold her beloved pony, Domino. But Grams understands that horses are Lily's life, just like they were for her mom.Astra Atomica is Lily's favorite, a graceful gray Arabian mare with the potential to become a great champion. Lily's mom saw it too--she rode the spirited animal to several victories--and Lily knows that the freak accident wasn't Astra's fault any more than it was her mother's. Lily's secret dream is to ride Astra all the way to the Tevin Cup, like her mother had planned to do. If only she can make her father see how much her bond with Astra means to her, and how much riding meant to her mother.

Genres: Horses, Middle Grade

Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Chris Platt is an award-winning author of more than a dozen books for young readers, including the popular horse novels Moon Shadow; Willow King and its sequel, Race the Wind; and many titles in the Thoroughbred juvenile fiction series.

She has a degree in journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno, and specializes in writing about horses. During her youth she worked as a jockey in Oregon (she was one of the first female jockeys in the state), and has been a life-long horse owner. Platt lives in Washoe Valley, Nevada.

Reviews

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was literally only 144 pages and left a lot to desire. They try to kill off the horse WHOSE NAME IS LITERALLY THE TITLE OF THE BOOK within fifty pages (if not earlier). Also, I'm convinced that vet was trying to kill the horse because the veterinary details were lacking and in some places just plain wrong. Like this horse needed to be on some serious IV fluids stat. And if it was so painful it would NOT just be laying there like it was dead- that horse would be kicking and thrashing. And if this case of colic was so bad WHY IN THE WORLD WERE YOU NOT SUGGESTING SURGERY?!?! All of this because some dumb kid let the horse eat rotten marsh grass...? Does that exist? I don't live by a marsh, so I wouldn't know. I love the completely unimportant secondary characters. I think there were at least five of them that you could have cut out of the book entirely and not affected the plot whatsoever. Lord have mercy on my soul. I'm salty about this book. I liked Chris Platt's other books though. But I read those when I was like twelve, so... If you're looking for something accurate and fulfilling with witty dialogue and an original plot, this ain't it. But I liked the horse.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative story about endurance horse racing, a subject I basically knew nothing about... A quick, exciting read... I deducted a star for a careless mistake... Charlie, was an annoying character in the story who constantly teased Lily, the main character... Within the first few pages Lily had said she sat next to Charlie in her math class... However, when Astra (the horse on the cover) was sick, Lily had said she wished she could ask Charlie or his sister about how Astra was doing, but they went to a different school, a private school... I feel like this was an odd mistake to make, and was surprised the editors didn't catch it...

[Seraphina Conway · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good ending but pretty basic.Also the veterinarian skills were just plain awful and so wrong. All in all I did not enjoy this book at all

[Susan Count · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though the story starts by getting out of bed and is told by omniscient narrator with very little dialog, it is emotional engaging. I did get sick of the story line about midway. Dad won't let me ride because my mother was killed riding. Rated it 4 star for the well done emotional appeal in the first several chapters.