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Sandy Lanes Stables #6
Ride by Moonlight
-- Full-length fiction stories about the children who live and ride at the Sandy Lane Stables-- Action and adventure stories for all horse lovers
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1900
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About the author
Michelle Bates
55 books12 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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November 8, 2025:(
February 27, 2014
Note: I purchased a second-hand copy of the paperback edition of this book (the one with the purple cover) at a local used book store.
SYNOPSIS: 'I can't! I'm not riding again!' However often Charlie repeats the words, his friends won't believe him. After all he has a place at racing school starting in a couple of months. OK, so he had an accident and fell off his horse. Who hasn't? He wasn't even hurt. As the weeks go by, his friends begin to realize it's going to take something quite exceptional to get him riding again. How will Charlie ever regain his confidence and get back in the saddle?
My thoughts: This book was ok, and enjoyable, but definitely was not one of my favourite books of all time.
One of the things that really bugged me about this story was the inconsistency of the places mentioned. It seems like there were a TON of new places mentioned, and non of them are on the map at the front of the book, so really they are just names with absolutely no relation to the story.
I also felt that a lot of the dialogue in this book was forced, and did not flow naturally the way teenage conversation would. There were a couple of terms that even I, as a child of the 90's (when this book was first published) did not understand.
I also think that parts of this book might give children the wrong ideas about riding - very rarely does the book mention the kids wearing hard hats or riding helmets (or other protective gear) and they seem to have jumping practice on their own, despite being teenagers (I WOULD IMAGINE 12-16, NOT ADULTS). Just a note to anyone reading this review, in Ontario it is the law that anyone under the age of 18 must wear an ASTM approved riding helmet at all times while mounted, and should never jump without supervision, regardless of how competent a rider is.
Anyways, some of the horse scenes were very realistic, and the story had enough excitement to keep my attention. I give this book 2.5/5 stars overall, rounded up to 3 because of the awesome cover art of this edition.
SYNOPSIS: 'I can't! I'm not riding again!' However often Charlie repeats the words, his friends won't believe him. After all he has a place at racing school starting in a couple of months. OK, so he had an accident and fell off his horse. Who hasn't? He wasn't even hurt. As the weeks go by, his friends begin to realize it's going to take something quite exceptional to get him riding again. How will Charlie ever regain his confidence and get back in the saddle?
My thoughts: This book was ok, and enjoyable, but definitely was not one of my favourite books of all time.
One of the things that really bugged me about this story was the inconsistency of the places mentioned. It seems like there were a TON of new places mentioned, and non of them are on the map at the front of the book, so really they are just names with absolutely no relation to the story.
I also felt that a lot of the dialogue in this book was forced, and did not flow naturally the way teenage conversation would. There were a couple of terms that even I, as a child of the 90's (when this book was first published) did not understand.
I also think that parts of this book might give children the wrong ideas about riding - very rarely does the book mention the kids wearing hard hats or riding helmets (or other protective gear) and they seem to have jumping practice on their own, despite being teenagers (I WOULD IMAGINE 12-16, NOT ADULTS). Just a note to anyone reading this review, in Ontario it is the law that anyone under the age of 18 must wear an ASTM approved riding helmet at all times while mounted, and should never jump without supervision, regardless of how competent a rider is.
Anyways, some of the horse scenes were very realistic, and the story had enough excitement to keep my attention. I give this book 2.5/5 stars overall, rounded up to 3 because of the awesome cover art of this edition.
August 30, 2014
My favorite part was when Charlie started riding horses again. The worst part was when Charlie fell off of a horse and stopped riding horses. My favorite character was Napoleon, a horse. There was no worst character in this book. This book was about Charlie falling off of a horse and stopping riding. There was a big storm. It made a very big mess and the owner was gone so he couldn't clean it all up. Then Charlie want to visit a friend and when he got back Sarah was about to have her baby. Charlie rode his horse because he had to to get to a telephone so he could phone the ambulance. Charlie finally started riding again. The main character was Charlie. This story took place at Sandy Lane Stables. Auryn Maxwell 10 years old, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 22, 2008
Sweet, gripping book that will capture any horse lover in a minute! Nicely done.
January 4, 2011
wow noneply died but Charlie his bad did not tell his own sister sarah so sad
September 1, 2014
I found this book a little bit boring but the story line was alright :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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January 31, 2018The book that I read on winter holidays is called ”Ride by Moonlight”, authored by Michelle Bates. It is part of the Sandy Lane Stable series, which I have read a lot of for the last two years. This book’s genre is realistic fiction because the situations in the book could happen in real life, but the plot is made up and not based on a real story. I chose the book because I love learning about horses. I really like this book series as it shows different examples from real life.
The setting of this story is The Sandy Lane Stables. The main characters in this book are Charlie, Nick and Sarah. Charlie is a boy that learns to ride horses in this stable. He has a problem because he is scared of riding horses. No one knows why he is afraid, maybe he is not telling all the truth. Nick is the owner of the Stables, he really cares about Charlie and tries to help him. Sarah is Nick’s wife, she is pregnant in this story. At the beginning of the book Charlie lives at the stables together with Nick and Sarah because his mom went away. Everyone is concerned why Charlie has a fear of riding horses, but Charlie doesn't want to tell the truth. One day, when everyone goes away to a big competition, Charlie stays at the stable. He really wants to try riding a horse that he likes a lot, and in this way overcome his fear. He gets the horse ready to ride. The problem is that the horse gets scared of something and Charlie cannot hold him, so the horse runs away. What will happen and how will Nick and Sarah react when he tells them that their horse is gone?
I enjoyed this book very much. It made me happy and really wanting to read on. I did not know what would happen to Charlie and if he would tell the truth to everyone. This is the reason why I was excited about the plot. The characters were joyful and helpful. I was sad for Charlie when I found out what his problem was. Also I really liked Tom who was the first one to know the truth, and he really tried to help Charlie fight his fear. By the end of the story Charlie changed a lot because he overcame his fear of riding horses. In this story, there were no scary or funny parts, there were some sad but mostly happy bits. My favorite part was at the end because it was rather unexpected and hardly believable. The message of this book is that you need to listen to others and tell them the truth because they can help you. I would recommend the book to people who like adventures and stories about horses. I think that the appropriate age to read this book is 10-14. My rating for this book is 10 out of 10.
The setting of this story is The Sandy Lane Stables. The main characters in this book are Charlie, Nick and Sarah. Charlie is a boy that learns to ride horses in this stable. He has a problem because he is scared of riding horses. No one knows why he is afraid, maybe he is not telling all the truth. Nick is the owner of the Stables, he really cares about Charlie and tries to help him. Sarah is Nick’s wife, she is pregnant in this story. At the beginning of the book Charlie lives at the stables together with Nick and Sarah because his mom went away. Everyone is concerned why Charlie has a fear of riding horses, but Charlie doesn't want to tell the truth. One day, when everyone goes away to a big competition, Charlie stays at the stable. He really wants to try riding a horse that he likes a lot, and in this way overcome his fear. He gets the horse ready to ride. The problem is that the horse gets scared of something and Charlie cannot hold him, so the horse runs away. What will happen and how will Nick and Sarah react when he tells them that their horse is gone?
I enjoyed this book very much. It made me happy and really wanting to read on. I did not know what would happen to Charlie and if he would tell the truth to everyone. This is the reason why I was excited about the plot. The characters were joyful and helpful. I was sad for Charlie when I found out what his problem was. Also I really liked Tom who was the first one to know the truth, and he really tried to help Charlie fight his fear. By the end of the story Charlie changed a lot because he overcame his fear of riding horses. In this story, there were no scary or funny parts, there were some sad but mostly happy bits. My favorite part was at the end because it was rather unexpected and hardly believable. The message of this book is that you need to listen to others and tell them the truth because they can help you. I would recommend the book to people who like adventures and stories about horses. I think that the appropriate age to read this book is 10-14. My rating for this book is 10 out of 10.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews