Gib Rides Home

Gib #1

by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Gib Whittaker's life at Lovell House Orphanage in the early 1900s is pretty bleak. But along with hours of chores, bad food, and paddlings, the boys do get some schooling, and reading and writing are better than scrubbing floors. Still, Gib's fondest dream is to have a real family. So when Georgie Olson is adopted, Gib can't help being jealous, even when he finds out that the "adoption" really means being farmed out to work as unpaid labor until the age of 18.



Then one freezing January morning Gib finds Georgie hiding in the barn, his hands heavily bandaged. Constantly whipped by his master, then sent to work outside without mittens, Georgie ran away when they threatened to cut off his frostbitten hands. Is this the only kind of adoption there is? When Gib himself is farmed out, he arrives at the home he has always dreamed of. But he's soon aware of barely concealed tensions and secrets kept hidden from him. Will Gib end up like poor Georgie?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Juvenile, Childrens, Horses

256 pages, Hardcover

First published February 9, 1998

About the author

Zilpha Keatley Snyder was an American author of books for children and young adults. Three of Snyder's works were named Newbery Honor books: The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid and The Witches of Worm. She was most famous for writing adventure stories and fantasies.

Reviews

[Rebecca Douglass · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gib Whittaker has been an orphan since he was small, living at an orphanage where the boys are given a minimal education and lots of hard work. No wonder Gib thinks being adopted would be better, even after he learns that many boys are taken to be farm hands, not really adopted. And all he really wants is to know who he is and where he came from. When Gib is finally adopted, he finds it's both more and less than he'd hoped, and when things go very bad, it looks like it's all over.

The book was a quick and easy read, but I can't say there was a lot of substance. I felt that the situation, though sadly not outside the realm of how orphans were treated in the early 1900s, was a bit cartoonish, as were many of the characters. That we know Gib will find a family isn't a bad thing (since the genre pretty much demands it, I don't consider this a spoiler), and the route to get there is convoluted enough to be interesting, but the book doesn't measure up to some I've read on similar themes. In many ways, I think the book ended just when the story might have gotten really interesting. It's an okay read, and has the added bonus of being a horse book for those of us who like that.

Recommendation:
For fans of the author and die-hard horse-story fans. Kids will probably have no problem with the issues that bugged me, especially the ones who just want to love horses.

[S Reeb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started on really slow. I didn't like it very much and I went a while without even touching it. But when I did everything got better. Most of the book it a flashback to how Gib finds himself back at the orphanage. It was a wonderful book and Black Silk was a wonderful horse. Gib has a natural talent with them. I think everyone should join Gib on his adventure as he makes friends, enemies, and discovers the truth about so many of his questions.

[Chazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gibson Whitaker lives at the Lovell House Home for Orphaned and Abandoned Boys. At eleven years old, he doesn’t have much in past memories and hopes only that he will be adopted by a real family and become a part of it.

It’s the early 1900s and the outlook for orphans is pretty dim. If not adoption, there is always the possibility of being “farmed out.” Not the best option, as the outcome is the boy winds up being cheap/free labour for the family to takes him, rather than being considered “family.”

Gib finds himself being farmed out to the local bank president’s family. Though the family structure is one he has dreamed of, he isn’t 100% family, but he learns to be a wrangler and also the fact that he can “talk” to the horses. Something he wasn’t really aware of, but he knew he loved working with them.

During his years there he feels there is a tension and that there are secrets. Some of those secrets are part of his past, but the family isn’t forthcoming on the secrets. He only gets dibs and dabs that make him even more curious.

At 18 Gib is returned to Lovell House — something that isn’t a usual event. That is when things start to come together and his past comes into view.

I’ve read a number of books by Zelpha Keatly Snyder and enjoyed each one. She writes mainly for kids, but her characters and situations are well done enough that adults can get something out of her books.

[LobsterQuadrille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gib Rides Home wasn't a story I fully expected to like, but it's really a cut above many of ZKS's later books! It's a deceptively simple tale, but there is such warmth and realism in it. The afterword of the book explains why: Gib's story is based on the childhood of the author's father, who also grew up orphaned and in sometimes brutal conditions. Now that I know this, in retrospect the book is clearly a loving tribute to him. But the history behind the book never overwhelms the plot. The story isn't exactly action-packed, but it did keep me turning pages to see what would happen to poor Gib next. The characters are deftly written too. Some steer just clear of being archetypes, but they were all interesting and/or sympathetic in their own way. Mr. and Mrs. Thornton are nebulous next to the others, but this works to some extent as it reflects Gib's feelings of uncertainty and emotional distance in his new life.

Historical setting, horses, a scary orphanage; Gib Rides Home has something to cater to many reading tastes! Give it a whirl if you like smaller-scale historical children's books.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what a good book! It had me staying up late to read just to see what happened next. There is a good mix of adventure, mystery, tales of growing up, horse and equestrian, and relationships. As a horse person myself, I enjoyed the bits about the boy riding the horses. But even if you are not a horse person you’ll probably enjoy this book. The kid grows up in an orphanage and always wonders about his past. He gets a window into the past, then has it taken away from him only to get it back again. It’s a good story. I like the little bit of history in it too. Appropriate for younger readers as well. Only thing I didn’t like about it is there are some cliffhangers. There’s a lot of directions that the plot could go in, but didn’t. That’s not bad I just think there is a lot of potential.

[Pasta Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite sparse time with horses and a few inaccuracies, this was a very enjoyable book. The wording is good, pacing great, and the characters are very memorable.
At the beginning I was questioning whether or not this really belonged in my horse library. I wasn’t sure we were ever going to get out of the orphanage and into a ranch. When we did though most of the information about horses was good, and the stories about them interesting. That being said there was a glaring inaccuracy that drove me crazy. That is using “gallop” for the word canter and “run” for a true gallop. Using the word run to describe a specific horse gait is one of my biggest pet peeves ever.
Overall though this is a very good book.

[Brenduh · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a fan of the Waltons or little House on the Prairie, then you will really enjoy this book. I'm currently reading the second book and it's just a nice relaxing book to read between heavy stuff. Do yourself a favor and get it for those times when you just need to forget All the icky stuff going on in your life.

[Ruth York · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice, quick young adult book. No big surprises in the plot, but still a "feel good" story.

[patricia sendelbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the author's notes.

[Leah Good · Rating 4 out of 5]

No one had heard from Gibson Wittaker since he went away, but the rumor was that he had been adopted by a family who lived near Longford, a small cattle town in the next county. There was nothing especially uncommon about that. Half, or even full, orphans left Lovell House fairly often, going back with a remaining parent or out to an adoption, but what was so shocking was his reappearance. How could Gib Wittaker be strolling into the senior boys’ dormitory when the law said, at least the law according to Miss Offenbacher, that Lovell House adoptions were not reversible?

The fact is Gib Wittaker was not adopted–more like farmed out–and he didn’t really want to return to Lovell House. More than a year earlier a gray-bearded man had come and taken Gib from the orphanage he’s lived in for the past five years. As he works at his new home, Gib finds a sense of accomplishment from working hard and discovers a talent for handling horses. But the Rocking M Ranch is also full of mysteries, some of them related to Gib. He hopes to find out more about his past, but some secrets are better off left alone.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This lacked the beauty and heart and glorious acceptance of children as they are, compared with books like The Changeling and The Egypt Game. It does benefit from Snyder's excellent writing style, and the characters are real and interesting to see. Young people on a farm, and independent children aren't really my catnip, but the story is strong and doesn't take the easy way out most of the time, so if you like those things you'll like it.

[Bonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked it for Children's Book Week 2010 out as something Regan (from the Trixie Belden series) might like. It's about an orphan in the early 1900's who gets "farmed out" and finds out how much he likes working with horses. It was okay but seemed to miss the boat on several potentially good plotlines.

[Taylor Geare · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be completely honest, Gib's Ride Home bored me. It's a story about an orphaned boy who is adopted out yet comes back to his orphanage for reasons I will not say as not to spoil it. I just didn't exactly enjoy the story line or the way it seemed to drag on. I am a lover of horse books but this one was not for me.

[Kathryn McCary · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two Gib books seem to have been written near the beginning of Snyder's slide into paint-by-numbers; the plots are shrilly overdramatized, and the god's machine is all too visible, but it is still possible to enjoy the stories.

[Partridge Public]

Snyder, Zilpha

[Tabetha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like adventure, mystery, and horse books, and I got it all raped up in one with this book. I read it awile ago but I remember I really liked it.

[♥lil' bit :} (i put u in my popcorn tehe!!) · Rating 5 out of 5]

if ur a horse lover u will adore this about a bound between an orphan boy and a mustain named black silk or silky.

[Beka Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will probably buy this book soon!!!

[Lauren Braley]

Bof!

[Cassidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book and I would reccomend it to everyone. It is an Amazing story of in unfortunate little boy! A must read for horse lovers!

[WSL Library]

X2

[Gerardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good book to read because of all the adventures he had threw the story like getting into trouble with the head mistress this was a good story to read I recomend it.

[WSL Library]

x2

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth the reread.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent

[Ginny Tata-Phillips]

I hope young people are reading her books - just not old me!