The Black Stallion Returns

Our rating: ***

This book opens dramatically when someone tries to kill the Black, then, while Henry and Alec are still trying to figure out who would want to kill the Black, Abu Já Kub ben Ishak arrives and proves that he is the owner of the Black, finally taking the Black to his home in Arabia. Alec, separated from the Black for what seems to be forever, jumps at the chance to travel to Arabia, in the hope of seeing the Black one last time.

This is the second book in the Black Stallion series. These books are not long reads, in fact, at one point when I was first reading them, I actually read six of them in one day. (Of course, I didn’t have anything else to do.) I enjoy them, and The Black Stallion Returns is very fun. It’s tense in some places, thrilling in others, and yes, occasionally predictable. (But is there a problem with that? At least it’s not “form-written”!) There is some violence. I take that back. There is quite a bit of violence, but it’s not told in a gross way at all. It has almost everything. A great horse (obviously), a really bad badguy, life or death situations. It even has an old feud! A great sequel to a great book.

Son of the Black Stallion

Our rating: ***

When Alec Ramsey receives the Black’s son from Abu Ja’ Kub ben Ishak, he can’t wait to begin training the young colt for racing, with the help of Henry Dailey, his trainer for the Black. But the colt proves to be more fiery and vicious than his father, with a strong killer instinct. Will Alec and Henry be able to tame the colt and fulfill Alec’s dream of a great racer?

A pretty good horse book with some heart-pounding races. On the whole, the story pacing is fairly consistent, although some parts seemed a bit slow.

Horton Hears a Who!

Our rating: ***½

Horton the elephant hears a small call for help from a speck of dust, and concludes that tiny people live there! However, a sour kangaroo doesn’t hear as well as Horton, and ridicules him. And then she decides to make him boil the speck in beezle-nut oil. Horton and the Whos must prove that the Whos do exist, before it’s too late.

Go Horton! He’s the all around nice guy sort and is willing to help anybody in trouble. Oh, and I might add that I still read Horton.

Horton Hatches the Egg

Our rating: ***½

A lazy bird named Mazy is tired of sitting on her nest and trying to keep her egg warm, so when Horton the elephant comes along, she begs him to take care of her nest and egg. Horton finally agrees and Mazy flies off for a vacation at the beach. But Horton’s friends laugh at him, and hunters come and capture him and the tree with the nest with the egg. (And the green grass grows all around, all around, the green grass grows all around…) But Horton stays faithful, one hundred percent.

This is a great book. It’s humorous and rhyming. Please read this book!

Wild Trek

Our rating: ****

Nobody has ever gone into the Caribou mountains and lived to tell the tale. Recently, Trigg Antray, a naturalist looking for albino moose, and his pilot crashed and radioed for help. Constable John Murdock has a broken arm and can’t go after them. And so Link Stevens and his dog Chiri are on the job. He finds the two lost men without much trouble, but Antray is injured, and when they try rafting back to civilization, the pilot takes all their gear and leaves them behind. With only some fishing line and a jackknife, Link and Trigg must survive where no man has succeeded.

This is the sequel to Snow Dog, although it could stand on its own. Wild Trek is somewhat better than its predecessor. There are a number of exciting points, and it’s amazing what Link and Trigg do to survive.