Meeting of the Mustangs

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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It's been forever since I've read an animal book, particularly one focused on a horse. I remember reading The Black Stallion and Black Beauty, some Jack London stuff, and whatnot as a kid, but nothing really since. As I recall, most horse stories are about a horse moving from owner to owner, some good, some bad. Most wild animal stories are just a series of mini-crises where the animal bounces along from event to event and occasionally (by coincidence) runs into an animal he knows. Meeting of the Mustangs is a hybrid, doing both.

We meet our central character when he's a few months old and follow him for a couple of years – he's on his own a lot, and then falls into the hands of some humans – bounces around a little and eventually comes into his own. Pretty straight-forward animal story, but told with a lot of heart.

Amazon's description puts this at 10-12 year old level – I think it's probably 7-9, but what do I know about stuff like that? Most of what I was reading when I was 12 wasn't on anyone's age-appropriate list. The writing was crisp and clear, things moved along a a good clip and never dragged on. Kennedy is better at writing animals than people, but it wouldn't take much to fix that (and since the book like something like 80%+ animals, who cares?).

I am absolutely, positively not the audience for this book – but it wasn't bad, and I enjoyed it. If I was a younger kid who was into animal stories? I'd have really had a great time with it. It's charming, solid and I have no problem seeing it as someone's favorite.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this from the author in exchange for this post.

I received this book from the author for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.

Fans of the popular Disney movie Spirit would absolutely love this story of a black colt as he goes through life as a free stallion across the wilds of the U.S.

The storyline is adventurous and will certainly keep the reader's attention. The chapters are small enough to entertain younger readers with small attention spans but contain a good amount of substance. Though the intended audience is young teens and tweens, some of the content may be too emotional for animal lovers. To prevent spoilers, I won't say anything else, however this book can be equally as emotional as the referenced Spirit.

Overall, Meeting of the Mustangs is an excellently written book and I recommend it to horse lovers between the ages 10 and 14. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

This review was originally published on Literature Approved (http://literatureapproved.wordpress.com)