YA Materials, Literature Log, Book #5: Black Horses for the King

 Title: Black Horses for the King

Author: Anne McCaffrey

Category: Author Assignment


Black Horses for the King follows Galwyn, a young runaway from his uncle's ship who meets Lord Artos--whom we know as King Arthur of legend--and uses his skill with horses to aid Artos in finding strong horses to bear his men in battle. Galwyn is skilled with horses, as his now-deceased father was a horse trader, and the boy loved the animals, so it isn't odd when Artos hires Galwyn to work as a groom and trainer for his fine black horses. In the process, Galwyn learns to care from horses and helps to perfect the horse-sandal, an invention that would later become known as the horseshoe.


While McCaffrey's writing style is easy to read and understand, obviously geared towards a younger YA audience, I quite enjoyed it. I didn't feel that she "dumbed down" anything, showing a respect for the young audience. I also quite liked her character work, as Galwyn is easy to root for, and it is easy to see why he would follow Lord Artos so devotedly. I also enjoyed reading about horse healing, and how the process of inventing horseshoes might have gone, and I feel this added some interesting content to the novel. I feel that Black Horses for the King could be a useful tie-in to a history class, or anything covering popular legends. I feel that this novel would appeal to children who like history and/or animals, especially those who are interested in the veterinary profession.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

YA Materials, Literature Logs, Book #20: Dear Martin

Title:  Dear Martin Author:  Nic Stone Category:  YALSA's Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Justyce is an intelligent boy in his senior year of high school at a private, highly acclaimed school. That doesn't matter, though, when one night he finds himself the victim of racial profiling when he was simply trying to get his drunk girlfriend home. Even months later, Justyce suffers from painful memories of handcuffs being snapped around his wrists and the fear he felt that night. In an attempt to combat this racial injustice, Justyce begins to write letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and tries to "live like" him when he can. However, the more time goes on, the more Justyce notices racial microaggressions everywhere at his predominantly white school, and he can't sit by and let it happen, not after what he experienced. Dear Martin is such a powerful book, much like Long Way Down . Its characters feel real, like kids that really exist in many communities all over
Read more

YA Materials, Literature Log, Book #11: The 57 Bus

  Title:  The 57 Bus Author:  Dashka Slater Category:  YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults title On a bus trip home from school, the skirt of agender teenager Sasha was set on fire by another teen, Richard. The two did not know each other, and went to different schools. Richard and his friends, who dared him to set Sasha's skirt on fire, thought it was funny that they looked like a boy dressed as a girl, and Richard impulsively caused damage. He did not intend for Sasha to be hurt as badly as they were. This book covers the lives of both teenagers before the incident, Sasha's recovery in the hospital, and the court case that followed, as Richard was charged with hate crimes for his actions. I must admit, I had not heard of this event before choosing this book to read this semester, and I found it very interesting. Through reading the book, I feel like I gained an understanding of both Sasha and Richard, and how nuanced things like this are. I feel that this book cou
Read more

YA Materials, Literature Log, Book #15: Girl in the Blue Coat

Title:  Girl in the Blue Coat Author:  Monica Hesse Category:  Historical Fiction Hanneke lives in Amsterdam in 1943, surviving by smuggling black market goods to wealthy clients in order to provide for her mother and disabled father. She's good at what she does, though she has never taken the time to dig past the black market trade into the revolution she knows is happening under the noses of the German invaders now occupying her city. However, when one client asks Hanneke to find a teenage Jewish girl she was hiding, Hanneke's drive to solve the mystery leads her straight to the heart of the revolution, and to finally see the pain that is being caused all over Amsterdam. I am very glad that I read this novel! I've read a great deal of WWII fiction, though none besides this one set in Amsterdam, and I found it interesting to get a peak into life in the city during German occupation. I found Hanneke to be a little self-centered at times, but I loved seeing her growth. I thi
Read more