Description:

A horse is a horse of course unless of course the horse is *Black Beauty*. Animal-loving children have been devoted to *Black Beauty* throughout this century, and no doubt will continue through the next. Although *Anna Sewell's* classic paints a clear picture of turn-of-the-century London, its message is universal and timeless: animals will serve humans well if they are treated with consideration and kindness. *Black Beauty* tells the story of the horse's own long and varied life, from a well-born colt in a pleasant meadow to an elegant carriage horse for a gentleman to a painfully overworked cab horse. Throughout, Sewell rails - in a gentle, 19th-century way - against animal maltreatment. Young readers will follow *Black Beauty's* fortunes, good and bad, with gentle masters as well as cruel. Children can easily make the leap from horse-human relationships to human-human relationships, and begin to understand how their own consideration of others may be a benefit to all.