I read this as a child and liked it okay, but re-reading it, it seems a little odd. For one thing, the author keeps referring to the children's hair as "silver" "pale" or "white." Does that mean that they're blond or prematurely gray? Another thing is that the writer seems to take great pleasure in describing the family's meals and making them sound utterly disgusting.

So what about the horse story? It is utterly unrealistic. The protagonist is given five horses on the spur of the moment by a dying man. Legitimate, I guess, but unrealistic. Then she wins another horse in a village. Okay, that's possible, but the horse goes on to win the Grand National after his first ever gymkhana. The girl is a natural rider but hasn't ridden anything but her pony for eight previous years. It's unlikely, that even with her talent, she had the guts to win at the National without ever competing in a hurdle race before.

What is it with these horse heroines that discover wild horses and tame them in a short amount of time to win the Kentucky Derby or the Olympics? Such training usually takes years and years of patient conditioning and practice. As a rider and horse lover, I think this is absurd.

W. Kaplan "calyndula"'s review makes this book sound like a classic. And it is. It's an old story and alot of people like it. But just because something's labeled 'classic', doesn't mean it's always interesting and simply wonderful. Do not be fooled, I love horses and horse books, it's just that this one, put quite simply, is one big yawn. It is often sold with a gold chain with the "Pie" on it. The chain isn't even worth the price: No matter how gentle you are with it, it will eventually break. Until the 15th chapter, there's no excitement, no cliffhangers...not even any tragedies for pete's sake! Just a bunch of silly nonsense and 'classic' dumb 'english' language. It's VERY confusing and hard to understand. I mean, I don't mind some good old-style language, but for heaven's sake! I may sound like an overly critical old-style book hater, but I'm not. The movie was better. I'm just saying this book doesn't deserve 16 chapters. That's my two cents, take it or leave it.