Astra

by Chris Platt

Thirteen-year-old Lily O'Neil's passion is Arabian horses. Someday she wants to be a great endurance rider like her mother. But a year earlier, when a freak riding accident took her mother s life, Lily's father sold Lily's beloved pony and forbid her to ride ever again.

When Lily's grandmother comes to live with them, however, she convinces Mr. O'Neil to let Lily clean stalls on the neighboring Arabian ranch. Lily is ecstatic, especially since she'll be near her mother s favorite horse, Astra. Lily's mother believed that Astra had the talent to become a national champion. Her goal was to ride her in the famous Tevis Cup Endurance Race, the toughest horse race in America. Lily is determined to fulfill her mother s dream. But how will she convince her father to let her ride again?

Genres: Horses, Middle Grade

146 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Chris Platt is an award-winning author of more than a dozen books for young readers, including the popular horse novels Moon Shadow; Willow King and its sequel, Race the Wind; and many titles in the Thoroughbred juvenile fiction series.

She has a degree in journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno, and specializes in writing about horses. During her youth she worked as a jockey in Oregon (she was one of the first female jockeys in the state), and has been a life-long horse owner. Platt lives in Washoe Valley, Nevada.

Reviews

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was literally only 144 pages and left a lot to desire. They try to kill off the horse WHOSE NAME IS LITERALLY THE TITLE OF THE BOOK within fifty pages (if not earlier). Also, I'm convinced that vet was trying to kill the horse because the veterinary details were lacking and in some places just plain wrong. Like this horse needed to be on some serious IV fluids stat. And if it was so painful it would NOT just be laying there like it was dead- that horse would be kicking and thrashing. And if this case of colic was so bad WHY IN THE WORLD WERE YOU NOT SUGGESTING SURGERY?!?! All of this because some dumb kid let the horse eat rotten marsh grass...? Does that exist? I don't live by a marsh, so I wouldn't know. I love the completely unimportant secondary characters. I think there were at least five of them that you could have cut out of the book entirely and not affected the plot whatsoever. Lord have mercy on my soul. I'm salty about this book. I liked Chris Platt's other books though. But I read those when I was like twelve, so... If you're looking for something accurate and fulfilling with witty dialogue and an original plot, this ain't it. But I liked the horse.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative story about endurance horse racing, a subject I basically knew nothing about... A quick, exciting read... I deducted a star for a careless mistake... Charlie, was an annoying character in the story who constantly teased Lily, the main character... Within the first few pages Lily had said she sat next to Charlie in her math class... However, when Astra (the horse on the cover) was sick, Lily had said she wished she could ask Charlie or his sister about how Astra was doing, but they went to a different school, a private school... I feel like this was an odd mistake to make, and was surprised the editors didn't catch it...

[Seraphina Conway · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good ending but pretty basic.Also the veterinarian skills were just plain awful and so wrong. All in all I did not enjoy this book at all

[Susan Count · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though the story starts by getting out of bed and is told by omniscient narrator with very little dialog, it is emotional engaging. I did get sick of the story line about midway. Dad won't let me ride because my mother was killed riding. Rated it 4 star for the well done emotional appeal in the first several chapters.