Black Beauty

by John Escott (Retold by), Anna Sewell, Sally Wern Comport (Illustrator)

When Black Beauty is trained to carry a rider on his back, or to pull a carriage behind him, he finds it hard at first. But he is lucky - his first home is a good one, where his owners are kind people, who would never be cruel to a horse. But in the nineteenth century many people were cruel to their horses, whipping them and beating them, and using them like machines until they dropped dead. Black Beauty soon finds this out, and as he describes his life, he has many terrible stories to tell.

Genres: Classics, Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

John Escott started by writing children's books and comic scripts, but now writes and adapts books for students of all ages. He especially enjoys writing crime and mystery thrillers, and is a member of the British Crime Writers Association.

With Oxford University Press John has published London for the Oxford Bookworms Factfile series; Agatha Christie, Woman of Mystery, Star Reporter, Girl on a Motorbike, The Fly and Other Horror Stories, and The Scarlet Letter for the Oxford Bookworms Library series; The Magician, Time for a Robbery, Star for a day, Tomorrow's Girl, and The Man with Three NAMEs for the Hotshot Puzzles series; and A Pretty Face for the Dominoes series.

Reviews

[Janete on hiatus due health issues · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story and a very nice adaptation!

[Pania_book_lover · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that it was the original.Try original for sure.Im gonna read it.

[Fachrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for my reading class. Now I want to read the original book!

[Elin Ohlsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is called Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. The book is about a young horse called ‘Black Beauty’. Black Beauty is a beautiful black horse with a white star on its forehead. The story begins where he lives with his mother and lot of other horses on a farm until he is four years old. The mother told him what he has to do, how to behave etc. After that he was often transferred to other stables. So, he always had a different owner. In the story you can tell he had a very hard life. He was treated very badly by his owners. But after all those hard times he finally got a new home and he became very happy. He never has to work as hard as before. He has no worries anymore.

My opinion of this book that I actually really liked this book because it was very easy to read. It was a very sad story but with a really good ending, which I loved about it. I liked the writing style, there are not so many difficult words. It was also a very interesting book.

In conclusion I would like to recommend it to other readers, especially to horse lovers because you learn something more about horses. You can really empathize with this book. I hope my review was clear.

[αηηα · Rating 4 out of 5]

well, horses are not really my cup of tea, however i kinda liked this book. it had really heartbreaking moments and it was so sad that the horse needed to leave his loved ones every single time.

[Kosuke Kamiya · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. Oxford level 4

2. 6/24~6/27=40min, 6/28=50min

3. farm, horses, kind owner, happy, cruel owner, whip, reencounter

4 a. The owner worked hard with Black Beauty, the main horse.
He was exhausted and very cold because it was terrible weather, which was heavy rain and strong wind. The owner was very busy and so he let his son take care of Black Beauty, but he has little knowledge about horses. That’s why, he treated him worse by accident even though he tried to treat him good. At last he, Balck Beauty was ill.

4 b. this scene made me mixed feelings, because both the owner and his son like Black Beauty and so they always take a lot of care of him, but that scene is emergency, so it can’t be helped. However, last scene, his son grew up and re-bought him after leaving their family, then he treated him well. I was very excited at last even though the scene made me sad.

5. This book is the best that I have ever read. This book makes me consider how to take care of animals and teaches me that I mustn’t treat animals bad.
Some people do animal abuse. In addion some people do something cruel such as “Shark Finning.” I don’t know why people treat animal bad. I have a dog and so I take care of her much well.

[Ivonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good, level 4 of english respect to Oxford. A kind of story for everyone who really likes nature and stories about animals. First person here is Black Beauty, yeah, a horse. An excellent horse with a lot of abilities.

It makes you think about how humans are and the idea of we are animals like horses and they need respect and love like you.

[Inge · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was easy to read. At the library they didn't have the original so this one had to do.
I loved the way everything was written from the horse perspective thought the story was very short and very narrow.
It reminded me at the series I used to watch with my mom when I was young.

[Miss Ambitious · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite novels of all time, I read this version five times>> and this is my sixth time>>> 😍😍😍
and I read penguin classics version twice .
The Story is amazing because it teaches the readers that we should value all the creatures and take care of them.... I really love this novel

[Ghofran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! I do not know why this story made me cry .. it is so touching

[Kauã Fillipe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um bom livro dentro do que a autora propõe. Um tema bem interessante e que nunca me havia aventurado: a relação homem-animal, especialmente o tratamento dado aos cavalos. Ótima estória.

[Maru Mikkor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funy

[Trang Nguyễn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this Black Beauty story, It made me change my behavior towards animals, the first my pets.
A bad-tempered man will never make a good-tempered horse.

[Paola Pedreros]

hola lo nesecito porfiss

[MarwenVanimalda · Rating 3 out of 5]

No le puedo dar más estrellas porque es muy triste.

[Nicole Miskel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as nostalgic as I remember from my childhood.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into this story. Things were either happening too fast, or slowed down until I would hit a brick wall. The writing was alright. Not for me.

[giugg⭐ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐

[İlkay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost forgot about this book. I read it again. Felt like a middle schooler again

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it
and it improved my English

[Nube De Libros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me siento tan feliz! Este libro me encanto sin duda fue un acierto leerlo en inglés! Me encanto, lo entendí, me emocione y pase una barrera personal donde jamás pensé poder comprender un libro completo en inglés! Sin duda lo recomiendo una historia encantadora que atesoraré siempre en mis recuerdos!!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black Beauty is narrated by the stallion Black Beauty and explores the life of a horse during the nineteenth century in England. During this era many horses were mistreated through neglect, abuse, or ignorance. Black Beauty has a relatively fortunate life with good masters, but also witnesses injustices to other horses, especially to his first carriage partner, the mare Ginger. He is owned by a series of different masters, most of them kind, but loses his beauty when ridden by a drunk rider who doesn’t notice that he lost a shoe and whips him until he collapses and breaks his knees. This makes him unfit to be owned by the gentry and he becomes a cab horse in his later years. Many cabbies drive their horses mercilessly and to death. This is how Black Beauty sees the end come for his friend Ginger. When Black Beauty is nearly worn out from pulling a cab, he is sold to become the responsibility of a rural man’s grandson. They care for him and he becomes healthy again, to find that he has been brought back to the farm of his birth and will spend the rest of his days with good masters.

[Giulia]

I chose this book because I like animals especially horses considering I have one.Reading this book I learned many new words about riding, this book tells the life and adventures of this beautiful horse and has a moral teaches us not to mistreat animals.Of this story I have also seen the film.This book I would recommend to all, because it's exciting.

[Dominga Chiarappa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice and easy book, it talks about a story of an horse and some several moments of its life, beside its relation with humans. If you love animals, this book is perfect to have a pleasant reading. Infact I chose it for this reason and it showed me more motifs to be kindly with an animal...So good read ;)

[Yasser · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a good story. From a different
perspective🐴.

I think the story taught me that animals feel in a way or another. Even if it was over-the-top in this novel. However, I didn't like that the story isn't changing a lot. It is just that black beauty sold from an owner to another.

[Izzie Comber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mindlessly pick it up in the library thinking it was the original book, it was an enjoyable read nonetheless. Now i want to read the actual book !