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Now I say that with cruelty and oppression it is everybody\u2019s business to interfere when they see it.<\/p>\n
Black Beauty<\/span>, page 74<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I knew next to nothing about Black Beauty<\/em> before I started reading it, and it was very different than I expected. My previous experience with equine stories has been through movies like Secretariat, The Black Stallion, <\/em>and Hidalgo,<\/em>\u00a0 so I was expecting a story about a colt who beats all odds to become a great racehorse. If my Kindle edition would have included the original title, I would have had a much better idea of what to expect. The full title from the first edition is Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions – The Autobiography of a Horse.\u00a0<\/em>And that’s exactly what it is. Written in 1877, Black Beauty<\/em> is a first-person account of life as a horse in Victorian England.<\/p>\n
Title Page, first edition of Black Beauty<\/em>, 1877<\/p><\/div>\n
Black Beauty tells his own story about growing up on a farm in rural England and eventually working as a cab horse in London. The chapters are short, and in each one the horse tells about a significant event from his life that illustrates some moral principle about kindness or treating horses fairly. As Black Beauty is sold from one owner to the next, the reader experiences a cross section of life in England in the late 19th century, and author Anna Sewell uses this to criticize social evils such as heavy drinking, animal cruelty, and unfair labor practices.<\/p>\n
Black Beauty himself is a humble, hard-working, honest creature, that I came to like more and more as I read his story. The novel is also filled with a memorable cast of supporting characters, both human and equine: the ill-treated mare Ginger, Squire Gordon, Joe Greene, Farmer Thoroughgood, and many more.<\/p>\n
Black Beauty<\/em>\u00a0is a perfect novel to read to children. Its chapters are short enough to be read in ten minutes or so, and it’s filled with wonderful details about life in Victorian England. And not only does it naturally spark discussions about moral principles like kindness and honesty, but it could also lead to conversations about deeper social justice issues like fair pay and business ethics.<\/p>\n
It’s a charming novel, and it’s no wonder it’s been so popular since it was first published. I was surprised to learn that\u00a0Black Beauty<\/em> is one of the top thirty best-selling books of all time in the English language<\/a>, selling over 50 million copies–more than\u00a0The Odyssey, To Kill a Mockingbird,\u00a0Pride and Prejudice<\/em>, and Gone with the Wind<\/em>. If you missed reading this as a child, as I did, pick up a copy and let Black Beauty tell you his story.<\/p>\n
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