Beware the Mare

From School Library Journal Grade 3-5-- A better-than-average "girl-gets-horse" story. Lily and her mother live on a farm with Gran and horse-trader Gramp. When he brings home a new mare, he is suspicious of her name, "Beware," and supervises Lily's actions around her. As the two of them investigate how Beware got her name, Gramp communicates useful handling tips and Lily falls in love with her seemingly perfect horse. Beware ends the mystery in a somewhat disappointing scene; she demands to have her itchy belly scratched when blackflies bother her. Told in the third-person, the book will capture young horse lovers with its believable characters and realistic dialogue. Simple vocabulary and short sentences make it accessible for transitional or slow readers. Offer this to those who aren't quite ready for Marguerite Henry's "Misty" books (Macmillan). --Charlene Strickland, formerly at Albuquerque Public Library , NMCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews The mare Gramp brings home seems perfect in every way; neither Lily, an experienced rider who has outgrown her pony, nor Gramp himself, a knowledgeable horse trader when he's not at work at his job on the town roads, can find anything the matter with her. Still, Gramp is cautious, warning Lily that she shouldn't set her heart on a mount that may not work out: there must be some reason she's been named ``Beware.'' Skillfully, Haas (Skipping School, 1992) uses the mystery about what proves to be an unalarming behavioral quirk in an otherwise sweet and exemplary animal to provide enough tension to hold this charming vignette together, offering a slice of rural Vermont life so simply and vividly drawn that it's next thing to being there. Illustrations not seen, but the jacket painting by Lindsay Barrett George is unusually appealing. (Fiction. 6-12) --