Eager Star

Winnie the Horse Gentler #2

by Dandi Daley Mackall

Twelve-year-old Winnie Willis has a way with horses. She can gentle the wildest mare, but other parts of her life don't always come as easily. Along with her dad and sister, Lizzy, Winnie is learning how to live without her mom, who was also a natural horse gentler. As Winnie teaches her horses about unconditional love and blind trust, God shows Winnie that he can be trusted too. Readers will be hooked on the series' vivid characters, whose quirky personalities fill Winnie's life with friendship and adventure. In #2 Eager Star, Winnie learns something about people as well as horses when she begins to value the power of praise and encouragement.

Genres: Horses, Contemporary, Christian, Fiction, Christian Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 14, 2002

About the author

A professional writer for over 20 years, Dandi Daley Mackall has written dozens of articles for popular magazines and published around 500 books for children and adults alike, with sales of over 4 million.

A frequent guest on radio and television talk shows, she lives in rural Ohio with her husband, three children, horses, dogs, & cats. Awards include the Edgar Award for Best YA Mystery, the Helen Keating Ott Award for Contributions to Children's Literature; Distinguished Alumni Award from Mizzou; ALA Best Book; Christian Children's Book of the Year, Amelia Bloom, Mom's Choice Awards. Her YA novel, My Boyfriends' Dogs, is now a Hallmark movie.

Reviews

[Alaina]

rtc

[Bcs (Sarah. B) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four point five.

Quick Overview:

Language/prophanity: None
Sex/Romance: None
Faith: Strong
Adventure/Action: Moderate
Other: None

A good Middle Grade read!

[Chloe H · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sister read this aloud to me and my other sister. Really fun!

[Brianna Vitale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very good. I love horses so I chose this book. Eager Star is about a horse who was bought by Chad Baines for his son, from an old woman. His High School rival, Spider Spidell bought the other one and they were arguing about who's horse is better. So they made a bet on who's horse would win in barrel racing. They each had one week to practice and get prepared and so, Winnie, a new girl who had moved to town used to help her dead mom gentle horses. Winnie is trying to make a reputation on gentling horses. So far she is gentling her friend Hawk's horse Towaco and now she has Eager Star, formerly named Bad Boy because he was always acting up on trail rides. This is what I can remember and this book was very good as I said and I would highly suggest this book series to anyone who loves horses.

[Sai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Al igual que en el libro pasado, tocan un tema interesante desde la perspectiva de una niña: La presión que uno se pone al querer una buena impresión y el para quién se hace.

Leyendo esta secuela es imposible no recordar esos tiempos de secundaria cuando uno solo quería encajar en alguno de los grupitos y pasar la menor vergüenza posible, y si eras el nuevo, en momentos era más complicado adaptarte. Y en ocasiones uno hacia cosas un poco locas con tal de ser aceptado.

* _____ * _____ *

As in the last book, they touch on an interesting topic from a girl's perspective: The pressure one puts on oneself by wanting a good impression and the one for whom it is made.

Reading this sequel it is impossible not to remember those high school times when one just wanted to fit into one of the groupts and pass the least shame possible, and if you were the new one, at times it was more difficult to adapt. And sometimes you do things a little crazy in order to be accepted.

[Emory Ivie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winnie Willis believes in gentling horses, not breaking them. She learned a lot from her mom before she passed, and now she wants to earn a reputation as a horse gentler. A rather ignorant young man named Grant Baines puts her talents to the test - she must train his gelding to barrel race in one week. That's seven days for Winnie to commit to training his horse, not to mention that she has school and her own life problems to deal with. His horse is ready to learn, but is he? Can she get both boy and horse to work together?

This sequel to Wild Thing is so relatable to real-life people, and the author has so many surprises up her sleeve! This book will keep you on edge with every page, and it has a twist ending, too! This book will teach you the importance of patience and kindness... and that there are some things that are more important than school popularity.

[Becca Avila · Rating 5 out of 5]

My name is Becca and I LOVE all 8 Winnie books. They are so good.

Like I said with my first review on the 1st book, I like this one and the one to come after this better than the very 1st book. I’m not sure why but I just do.

This 2nd book was fun, Grant is nice. He is actually pretty sweet.

One thing that I would have liked to see in all this books is a little more romance and teen crushes and stuff, it’s still a good ok even though there isn’t and romance.

I love the help pet line, it’s cool. It would be nice if there is one. Contact me if you do know of one like the one in the Winnie books. If there aren’t I might just have to make a website for a help pet line myself.

Overall this book was great.

-Becca (ba758369@gmail.com)

[blueygurl2016 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was decent but honestly it felt like the characters were really kinda flat. Like Summer is the annoying popular girl, Hawk is the Native American with a bird, Barker is the dog guy, Winnie is the horse person, Lizzie is the lizard younger sis, Catman is the cat guy, wow 😮 mindblown, and Grant, the only one whose name literally isn’t a pun somehow to the animals they like, is the popular guy who might have an abusive dad but like that could’ve been explored a bit more. Idk that I’ll continue this series. That said, I do appreciate that Winnie is growing in her faith and that is obvious in this book with her prayers. Her prayers in Book 1 were very self-centered “God do this for me” but this one they were a little more “God help me” and “Thank You God” which definitely shows growth.

[Misty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winnie Willis was a great character with a gentle hear and a knack for horses who was getting over her mother's death. This was a great teen book for any young teen who loves animals as it has a great story and even better characters!

[Susan Phelan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable book. The characters were interesting. I like how God was part of the book in an everyday kind of way.

[Addison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, just like the first one. Has faith, family and horses!!!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

See first book in the series for a full review.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminds me of the time I
had ridden a horse and inspired me
to do it again🐎🐎🐎

[Elivia Kanatiquelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comparing people to horses: great idea!

[Jennifer L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book two in the "Winnie the Horse Gentler" series. It is aimed at girls ages 8-12 and about a junior high girl who can make impossible horses into good ones. Her mother has died, and she learned how to do this from her mother.

In this book, it's the start of the school year and her classmate, Grant, is to be riding in a barrel race. However, his horse "Eager Star" doesn't want to cooperate. She even bucks Grant off of her at one point in the book. Winnie's job is to make this horse that is frightened and nervous into a winner in one week.

Also during the course of the book Winnie gets off on the wrong foot with her English teacher, and wouldn't you know it, but she turns in the WRONG journal to this woman, which doesn't make things any better for Winnie.

She also plans a slumber party, inviting the most popular girls in school. That doesn't go quite as expected for her.

This was an enjoyable book even though I'm not the target age range. It is a quick read, and one that girls who love horses would be especially fond of. I am looking forward to reading the rest of this series.

[Dottie Parish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sequel to Winnie the Horse Gentler 1. It’s a delightful, well written Christian book for middle grade girls who love horses - as was the first book. Winnie’s grief about her mother’s death and estrangement from her father are the back drop to a great story. Winnie is a new comer to town and hopes to be accepted by the popular group in her new school. She also hopes to gain customers for her horse gentling business. She learns that praise rather than criticism and seeing things from another’s perspective is the best approach to people, horses and life.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these books when I was younger, and when I went back and re-read them, enjoyed them just as much. I appreciate how much Winnie grows in each book, yet that no one grows too unbelievably much.

Thank you Dandi Daley Mackall for eight great books!

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is suitable for younger audiences. I really liked that it was about something that lots of kids have to face, being the "new kid". It was also about not judging people by what they seem like on the outside.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first series i ever read, it i will never read a series thats better then these books.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this book. horse people would love it

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the way Winnie understood horses! If I had a horse that had been abused I would want Winnie to gentle my horse and teach me to gentle horses to!!!

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a great series, and a great thing about it is that it is clean.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, and I think that this series is AWESOME!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is so wonderful for horse-loving kids.

[Anna Ritzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really great book!!

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. It is really great for horse lovers that plan to have their own horses some day.