a book
Black Beauty
Anna Sewell · 2014 · 118 pages
Black Beauty is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid. The novel became an immediate best-seller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, but long enough to see her only novel become a success. With fifty million copies sold, Black Beauty is one of the best-selling books of all time. While forthrightly teaching animal welfare, it also teaches how to treat people with kindness, sympathy, and respect. Black Beauty became a forerunner to the pony book genre of children's literature. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 58 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.
Black Beauty spends his youth in a loving home, surrounded by friends and cared for by his owners. But when circumstances change, he learns that not all humans are so kind. Passed from hand to hand, Black Beauty witnesses love and cruelty, wealth and poverty, friendship and hardship . . . Will the handsome horse ever find a happy and lasting home? Carefully retold in clear contemporary language, and presented with delightful illustrations, these favorite classic stories capture the heart and imagination of young readers.
By retelling the story in a shorter, simpler form, these books become highly engaging for children, and the color illustrations help with both comprehension and interest level. Black Beauty is part of a collectible series that has strong gift appeal.
A True Classic that Belongs on Every Bookshelf!
recommended by 6 people
sourced from public statements
Christiane Amanpour
“This was the first real classic I remember reading. It occupied my heart from page one. It’s still with me. The whole panorama of life (yes our human experience too!) can be told through the experience of this magnificent noble beast. Riding was my first sport, horses were my first love. Black Beauty and Ginger were then my favorite fictional characters.”↗
Priyanka Chopra
“It’s the story of this black stallion horse, which is raised by a very loving owner and then gets sold into a workforce. As an animal lover, I remember being really, really moved by this book as a kid.”↗
Morgan Freeman
“It was the first book I read. I don’t recall if it was a librarian who [suggested it] or if I just stumbled on it, but the idea of reading a book – not a comic book – was part of it. This was in the ’40s, when all we had for entertainment was radio and the movies, so reading was a big deal.”↗
