Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Book Review 44: Margret and Flynn by Kathleen Duey


This is part of the Hoofbeats series, which I think we had one of as a possibility for last year's Mark Twain, but didn't make it. It takes place in 1875. The main character is of course Margret, and she and her sister Libby are orphans. They are living with Mrs. Frederickson, an elderly widow who lives in a sod house in Littleton, Colorado. Margret and her sister don't stay in one place long. As soon as Libby sees things changing for the worse, or else if she sees Margret getting too attached to the family, she'll pack them up and leave in the middle of the night with no word to the people they've been with. Margret likes this latest place though. She gets to take care of the horses, and Mrs. Frederickson is really nice. A tornado comes and all of a sudden there's an extra horse, a very fancy looking horse. Margret names it Flynn, and after riding it, falls in love, and even gets to meet some neighbors when she goes to share their milk with neighbors who have chickens for them to take.

The story is about Margret finally wanting to settle, not sure how to convince her sister, and also wanting to keep Flynn, who she knows must belong to someone else. It all culminates in a race, that Margret wants to win to get the money to buy Flynn.

This story goes back to the stereotypical girl loves horses, horses are wonderful creatures. Not a bad thing, but still kind of nothing out of the order.

Next up is another Mike Lupica book. I know from the one I read for the Truman list that he is a good writer, but also very technical in his "baseball speak". So we'll see how it goes!