I was recently asked if I would be interested in reading and reviewing a horse book for middle grade readers. Corinne Joy Brown’s book is titled Finding Home. It explores the lives of wild mustangs and the struggle they go through to survive in the wild. It also follows the journey of a horse mad young girl who is desperate to own a horse – specifically, a wild mustang.
Finding Home starts being told from the point of view of a young golden horse. This wild mustang filly known as Pahaska, enjoys life with her mother and other herd members. It is once she’s a few years old that she is caught up in a helicopter muster. Young Pahaska finds that her life changes drastically over the next few days.
She looses her mother, develops a fear for helicopters and has no idea what to expect when she is auctioned off and expected to load into a small, dark trailer.
The filly with the golden coat and curly hair is renamed Curly Girl by her adoring new owner. Although young Jesse is rapt to finally have a horse of her own, she is impatient to get the filly to the boarding stable that she has organised. Her Uncle Joe needs to first gentle the filly, start her under saddle and ensure she is safe.
The days pass by incredibly slowly. It feels to Jesse that her Curly Girl will never arrive.
Finally the day arrives and Jesse finds that her exciting adventure has truly begun. The arrival of the horse soon turns everything upside down and Jesse is devastated to find all of her plans fall down around her. The solution that her Uncle Joe proposes is far from appealing.
And yet, as the young girl explores a relationship with her new horse, she redevelops an old one with her distant father. Finding Home does a wonderful job of enlightening readers about horses – particularly the plight of the American mustang. It also looks at family dynamics and explores the hope that can be found in a family being restored. It was an enjoyable read and the illustrations by Ginny McDonald only added to the story. These were beautifully done, giving wonderful imagery to the book. Recommended.
Author: Corinne Joy Brown
Fiction – middle grade adventure
In My Library? It is as an eBook.
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