The Something-Special Horse

by Lynn Hall, Sandy Rabinowitz (Illustrator)

Charles hates it that his father buys horses to sell for meat, but when he buys a very special mare Charles is determined to save her.

Genres: Horses, Animals, Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens

122 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1985

About the author

Lynn Hall was the author of over fifty novels for juvenile and young adult readers, as well as over two dozen novels for younger readers. Her books focus on coming-of-age stories featuring dogs and horses.

Reviews

[Stephanie A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely written as always, but ugh, SO HARD TO READ. The whole first half is just despair, and then it feels unfinished, ending abruptly with an implied happy ending but no real sense of completion.

(it ends with him finding an ad for the lost horse and getting ready to call its owner)

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an appropriate read even for preschoolers. Chris is the young protagonist who is extremely distraught at his father's line of work (which is to buy horses at auction and sell them to a buyer who slaughters them for meat---okay that might not be an easy topic to discuss with the youngest crowd, but it is handled appropriately enough, I think).

At one auction Chris comes across a beautiful grey horse who eventually ends up at his dad's farm, destined for the slaughterhouse. Chris devises quite the adventurous plan to save his now (several days later) beloved horse, Lacy.

The rescue plan is rather interesting (at times a bit overly descriptive) and it is suddenly revealed that Lacy is a heavily decorated and extremely valuable dressage Andalusian mare who was stolen from her farm.

Then with about two pages left of the book, it ends. Rather abruptly for my tastes. Not sure that my 5 year old was annoyed with ending. She seemed pretty accepting of it. However, I was left a bit dissatisfied with it. I was hoping it would talk more about Lacy being reunited with her people and what happened to Chris' relationship with his dad after the Big Rescue was over. Unfortunately, we got none of those answers. Oh well. Thus, it gets an "it was okay" 2-star rating. I didn't dislike the book, I was simply hoping to read more of it!

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars -- I am so disappointed. I feel as if I have been robbed. I know that this is a Weekly Reader title, but this story just ends. I go on a long journey, 40-50 miles bareback, just so the story can reach its final climactic conclusion, and end.

Chris Eklund goes to a horse auction with his dad. His father is a middle man who buys at auction and resells to meat plants. Ugh. Regardless, he buys a grey mare that Chris realizes is special. Chris's dad eventually acknowledges that, but he doesn't want the trouble of tracking down information about a horse that he suspects was stolen. So Chris takes matters into his own hands, but the story is left unfinished. Booooooo...

[Gevon Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

My great-grandfather used to always read me this book when I was young. Then, as I grew older, I began reading it to myself. Nw, at the age of 14, it is still perhaps one of my favorite books!

[Jessa Pearl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A forever favourite horse story.

[Norah Schuman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. I loved it!! If you have not read it I highly suggest it.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horse stories are ways emotional