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Max Brallier. Praise " The Black Stallion is about the most famous fictional horse of the century. Related Articles. Looking for More Great Reads? Download Hi Res. Get the latest updates from Walter Farley. And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week. We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please try again later. Today's Top Books Want to know what people are actually reading right now?
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Scaredy Bath. Kissed by the Moon. Marcie Gill and the Caravan Park Cat. To him, a horse was the greatest animal in the world. Then one day the Drake headed for a small Arabian port. As they approached the small landing, Alec saw a crowd of Arabs milling about in great excitement. Obviously it was not often that a boat stopped there. But, as the gangplank went down with a bang, Alec could see that it wasn't the ship itself that was attracting all the attention. The Arabs were crowding toward the center of the landing.
Alec heard a whistle--shrill, loud, clear, unlike anything he had ever heard before. He saw a mighty black horse rear on its hind legs, its forelegs striking out into the air. A white scarf was tied across its eyes. The crowd broke and ran. White lather ran from the horse's body; his mouth was open, his teeth bared. He was a giant of a horse, glistening black--too big to be pure Arabian. His mane was like a crest, mounting, then falling low. His neck was long and slender, and arched to the small, savagely beautiful head.
The head was that of the wildest of all wild creatures--a stallion born wild--and it was beautiful, savage, splendid. A stallion with a wonderful physical perfection that matched his savage, ruthless spirit. More Details Original Title. Other Editions Friend Reviews.
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Black Stallion , please sign up. An year-old girl was not interested in reading. Now the child has her own library card and insists they make periodic trips to the library. This book stimulated my reading when I was eleven. It's an old, reliable read. Do you know a better way to "force" a kid to read? Alisha I pick a book for my daughter to read and she gets to pick one any appropriate topic without any parental eye-rolling no matter what it is.
I also m …more I pick a book for my daughter to read and she gets to pick one any appropriate topic without any parental eye-rolling no matter what it is. I also make sure she has lots of options at home as well as asking her for suggestions about what she thinks I might like to read. For instance, last year I read a lot of the Warriors series not my favorites but they weren't bad and most importantly she saw that I valued what she recommended so it goes both ways - it also gives us something to talk over.
Is this book okay for nine year olds? Rebecca My 8-year-old loved it. There's nothing objectionable in the story.
See all 8 questions about The Black Stallion…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Dec 06, Manybooks rated it it was ok Recommends it for: children interested in horse stories.
Shelves: childrens-literature , book-reviews , horse-stories. Although I certainly enjoyed Walter Farley's classic tale of a boy and his horse when I read The Black Stallion as a young teenager, I most definitely never liked it quite as much as Marguerite Henry's Misty of Chincoteague series and other horse series that were part of my childhood ; furthermore, I also never did warm up to any of the sequels.
And part of the reason why The Black Stallion has always been a bit of a miss for me is the fact that at least some of the scenarios described by autho Although I certainly enjoyed Walter Farley's classic tale of a boy and his horse when I read The Black Stallion as a young teenager, I most definitely never liked it quite as much as Marguerite Henry's Misty of Chincoteague series and other horse series that were part of my childhood ; furthermore, I also never did warm up to any of the sequels.
And part of the reason why The Black Stallion has always been a bit of a miss for me is the fact that at least some of the scenarios described by author Walter Farley have tended to sound just a bit too good to be true, a bit too convenient and at times, almost unbelievable and I really, truly do very much despise the fact that Alec keeps feeding the Black sugar, as sugar is basically really really unhealthy for horses, especially if it is something they are fed regularly and not as a very occasional treat.
This time around, and basically upon rereading The Black Stallion for the first time in decades, I realise that much of my annoyance with the novel is and likely always has been with the whole thoroughbred racing scenario. Thoroughbreds are often ridden and raced much too young and much too fast and the number of broken down thoroughbreds that end up in feedlots or being used as chuckwagon fodder is indeed both horrible and staggering. Now my family used to raise warmbloods, Trakehners, to be exact.
And we would not even have considered breaking a horse getting a horse used to a rider, to a saddle and the like until around age three or so. However, with thoroughbreds, even one year and two year olds are routinely ridden and even raced and at breakneck speeds at that.
For example, Alec's friend and horse trainer Henry recounts how his best horse, Chang, collapsed and died after a race and while you can tell that Henry is sad at what happened, he obviously also is proud of the fact that Chang's record still stands.
And I, for one, have always wondered whether Chang was being overworked, whether he should not have been raced that day, whether the owners of Chang, and even Henry, might have failed to notice a potential medical issue or even refused to notice it indeed, I might be reading too much into this, but these thoughts did come and always emerge whenever I read this part of The Black Stallion. And even the Black's final race, where he beats Cyclone and Sun Raider, it tends to leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, mostly due to the fact that the Black is injured during the race, and yes, this is an injury that could have proven much worse than it turns out to be and I have actually watched thoroughbred races where horses physically attacked one another, jockeys used their whips on other horses, even on competing riders, it is not a pretty sight, and I cannot help but remember these scenarios, these real-life occurrences, when reading about the Black and his races.
And I guess it also does not help any that the Black's fighting with other horses often seems to be almost feted and cheered by the author; personally, the fights, while they might be exciting to and for some, have always kind of sickened me a bit because their description is almost like a revelry, a glorification of violence.
Finally, I still do think The Black Stallion is an entertaining, informative and thrilling horse story, and that Walter Farley started writing this his first novel when he was a mere teenager is rather awesome in and of itself The Black Stallion was published when Walter Farley was twenty-six, but he actually started writing the novel in high school.
That being said, The Black Stallion most definitely has never been one of my favourite horse stories, as the brutality of the races, the Black's at times overly violent nature and how this is actually condoned and even feted by Walter Farley's narrative as being something amazing and wonderful and indeed that the Black was often being fed sugar have always lessened my reading pleasure more than somewhat. View all 8 comments. A very nice children's story.
No idea when I first read this but I was very young. This is the German edition and I always loved the covers just looked into the English ones and am not convinced so I probably won't re-buy them. I was never the girly type of girl that was into horses, but the fierceness of the Black Stallion, the majestic way it was portrayed in the movie as well as the Arabian kept in the stables where I had my lessons , and the adventures sucked me in.
With the generous backing of my grandfather who lik No idea when I first read this but I was very young. With the generous backing of my grandfather who liked the series as much as I did I got all of the original 13 15 if you count those that Steven Farley, Walter Farely's son, penned or at least helped with volumes on my shelf.
It's definitely time for a re-read and, perhaps, for re-watching the old movie too. View all 10 comments. Alex Ramsey first meets the black stallion when they're both booked on a ship called the Drake. When the ship is destroyed during a storm, the Black stallion and Alex are the only survivors. They wash up on a deserted island. Alex knows if it wasn't for the Black he won't have survived the shipwreck. When Alex is rescued from the island, he insist on the Black being saved too.
Soon they are on a voyage to New York in America. What fate awaits for a boy and a wild black stallion? I can remember re Alex Ramsey first meets the black stallion when they're both booked on a ship called the Drake.
I can remember reading this book around ten or eleven years old. I loved it so much I went on to read all the horse books by Walter Farley, and some by other authors as well. This was my first taste of reading for pleasure. Later, I would extend my love of reading about horses to actually owning a horse on my stepmother's farm. My stepmother, Lynne, saved horses from neglect and abuse. My first horse, Tonka, was a prancer and I loved her.
Reading this book again brought back memories of bygone years of pleasurable midnight rides on Tonka. I recommend this children's novel to kids and adults alike. My copy was illustrated by Domenick D'Andrea. View all 11 comments. Too many years, I guess. Anyway, I'm really happy that I had a chance to reread this as an audio book narrated by Frank Muller who did an excellent job.
It's also full of fortuitous coincidence, something I normally abhor, but that wound up being part of the charm. This was written in , so it is also nostalgic in many ways.
The horses were described well, although using 'whistling' to describe one of their high cries bothered me throughout. The racing was great, too. They did keep using a saddle after they heard it break, though.
The only time I've known a saddle with a broken tree to work was on an extremely fat Welsh pony. We used it because it kept good saddles from getting ruined since he had a penchant for scratching his back occasionally.
Alec was planning to take a month to travel back from India via ship, so LaGuardia might still have been an amusement park which it was until New York has also spread amazingly fast.
By the late 70s, the fields were gone, completely replaced by houses packed together on quarter acre lots; completely changed in less than 20 years. So much growth in so little time, mostly due to the way the car changed transportation times, I think. I highly recommend this, especially in this format for adults. There are some great illustrated editions, too.
That's actually based on a true horse. View all 7 comments. Reading this to my kids, I honestly wonder if I've actually read it! So I suspect that I had simply seen the movie, and then moved on with the books after that! The book is quite similar to the movie, and my kids found it a little dry.
It goes into great detail about how wild the Black is, and how only Alec can ride him, but the big race takes place in just one chapter! Still, it's the first book about a horse that Reading this to my kids, I honestly wonder if I've actually read it! View 2 comments. Jul 21, Tara Lynn rated it it was amazing Shelves: personal-favorites , amazing-child-teen-reads , best-child-teen-series , booklist-for I've been an avid horse fanatic since before I can remember.
Unfortunately, when you're a kid growing up in the city, there's nothing a horse fanatic can do about it until they grow up and can afford or work for lessons of their own. When I was a teenager, my parents movied to Long Island, and I finally had the opportunity to work summers at a barn in exhange for riding lessons. Today I teach riding to little kids, and spend as much time in a barn as a can.
In those years before my horse crazy I've been an avid horse fanatic since before I can remember. In those years before my horse crazy self had my own horses to adore, and lessons and training to look forward to, these books, among others kept my dream of being an equestrian going. Although I may not have loved all the farley books equally, and I've only just realized that there were around 20 of them, they're all still great books in my opinion.
A definite gift for the horse crazed kid. View all 3 comments. I don't like horses, or horse books, but I really enjoyed this one. Jun 30, Wanda rated it liked it Shelves: read-in , public-library , childrens-books.
And yet this is the book which ignited my passion for reading. Totally unrealistic and it was totally captivating to an 11 year old, horse-crazy girl. This is the book which started my life-long habit of identifying with male characters, because I wanted to be Alec Ramsey. We left home with a truck full of pigs and returned home with a Shetland pony. Fortunately for me, Nippy was much more like old Napoleon in this tale than like the wild black stallion.
Still, like a first love, I will always have fond memories of The Black Stallion. May 24, Ruth rated it it was ok. This book is clearly a product of its time, and not just because of the corny slang. The second page awkwardly gives us a dose of muscular Christianity ideology: "Never again would he think of a missionary's work as sissy work.
No, sir, you had to be big and strong The Irish- and Italian-American characters are completely stereotyped. Egyptians are referred to as "natives" or as "the dark-skinned man"--I deduce that this person merited descrip This book is clearly a product of its time, and not just because of the corny slang.
Egyptians are referred to as "natives" or as "the dark-skinned man"--I deduce that this person merited description as a "man" because his clothes are westernized. The "dark-skinned man" is portrayed as cowardly, panicing in a crisis, and unconcerned about causing others' deaths. There are so many unbelievable coincidences that drive the plot, that I just won't get into them all.
But several unbelievable things could have been easily fixed without derailing the plot. Why make Alec a freckled red-head and then claim that his skin tans?
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