The Princess and the Foal

Gr 4–6—A tale based on the real experiences of a Jordanian princess, this girl and horse story has all the classic elements. Seven-year-old Haya loses her mother to a helicopter accident; her father gives her an orphan foal to raise. The foal grows into a talented mare; the girl grows into a feisty horsewoman even in the face of her severe governess, who thinks girls should only be ladylike. At 12, Haya is sent to a British boarding school, where she thrives—until images of the events of 9/11 on TV throw her into a breakdown. A page later she wakes up back home in Jordan, weak but thrilled to be reunited with her horse. Almost immediately, she determines to join the stable team in a traditional and very high stakes competition involving horses; her training for this event is much condensed as she works hard to develop her raw talent quickly. Of course, this being a fairy tale, she leads her team to victory. Much of the story reads like Walter Farley's The Black Stallion—but her breakdown is jarring, unexplained, and confusing. Told in third person until the crisis of the competition day, the book's format then changes to a letter to her mother, italicized and in first person, a disruption in perspective. The connection to the true story of the real but unfamiliar princess the protagonist is based on doesn't give it more substance.—Dorcas Hand, Annunciation Orthodox School, Houston, TX