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Montgomery was born in Straubville, Sargent County, North Dakota, "a true ghost town" as of 2005. to George Y. and Matilda Proctor Montgomery. He studied at Colorado Agricultural College, Western State College of Colorado, and University of Nebraska; taught elementary school in Hot Springs, Wyoming; and from 1917 to 1919 served in the United States Air Corps. During the 1920s, he worked as a teacher and principal at junior and senior high schools in Montrose County, Colorado.
Montgomery married Eunice Opal Kirks in 1930; they had three children. He served Gunnison County, Colorado, as a judge from 1931 to 1936 and as county commissioner from 1932 to 1938, then became a freelance writer.
While still at school, Montgomery began writing stories about the wild animals that lived around his family's farm. He went on to write books about aviation and the people, landscapes and animals of the American West, particularly horses. In all, he wrote more than 100 books.
From 1941 to 1946, Montgomery was a writer for Dick Tracy. He worked as a creative writing teacher 1955–57 and as a scriptwriter for Walt Disney Studios 1958–1962.
Lady Ebony is a black thoroughbred who runs off with a mustang herd and returns with her son to the Crazy Kill Mountains. The book is a biography of these fictional horses and the people and animals around them. Tragedy strikes so many animals in nature and this is reflected in this book. It is a good horse story, but can get depressing at times. Still, Midnight is one lucky horse and the reader keeps rooting for him through every setback. The book is a fast, easy one to read.
I did not like this book when I first tried to read it when I was about 8. I tried again when I was older and found it hard going. Decades later, I found a copy at a flea market and finally read it and understood it. Sadly, my copy is now lost. The most memorable bit was an encounter between a mustang and a bear. I do recommend this, but I think adults will enjoy it more than children.
I bought this book way, way back when I was in grade school. My copy is a Scholastic Book, after all. But for some reason, I never got around to reading it, or if I did, I have no memory of it. It has a very 40s style of writing, which makes sense because that was when it was originally published. With very few human characters, the book is slow going - no dialogue. I wanted to like it more, but for me it was a chore getting through it.
Read this book as part of Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders in the final stage (smooth reading) before release as an e-book.
If you want to read this book, it will be available through Project Gutenberg soon. I think it would be a good book for boys that can handle some killing between animals and humans killing animals.