The Wild Mustang - Softcover

Twelve-year-old Tracy Jordan loves exploring the lands around her family's Wyoming sheep ranch. It's always a thrill when she spots a herd of wild mustangs grazing in the mountain meadows. Tracy wishes with all her heart that she could have a horse of her very own. But for some reason, her father seems to hate all horses, especially mustangs.

One day Tracy and her brother Colin rescue an injured black mustang near their home. Tracy is determined to keep the mustang, which she names Whitestar, until he has healed, but she knows that her father will be furious if he finds out what she's done.

When Whitestar's hiding place is discovered, Tracy is frantic. She knows that the only way to save the mustang is to set him free--but will she have the courage to say goodbye to her dream horse?

Grade 4-7-- Walter Farley's The Black Stallion (Random, 1944) has entranced generations of young horse lovers, who dream of capturing and taming a wild horse. Twelve-year-old Tracy Jordan and her younger brother Colin perform this near-impossible feat on their Wyoming sheep ranch. They befriend an injured mustang colt, which miraculously accepts their clumsy nursing. Because their father despises wild horses, they conceal Whitestar in a remote cabin. They and a neighbor boy tame the colt and begin training it. When Mr. Jordan discovers the secret, Tracy reluctantly sets Whitestar free to save him from the meat packers--moments before Dad miraculously reprieves the colt. Few readers will fail to predict the outcome of the unrealistic plot, although some may shed a tear at the children's loss. Farley still tells a better version, with a happier ending; Leda Blumberg's Breezy (Avon, 1988) more realistically describes the mustang taming process. --Charlene Strickland, formerly at Albuquerque Public Library , N.Mex .
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.