Gabriel’s Horses by Alison Hart
The Hook:
It’s 1864 and the Civil War is raging. Confederate owner, Master Giles, is a horse racing man. He hires Gabriel’s Pa, a free Black man, to train his horses. Although Pa is free, he is married to a slave and Gabriel is a slave also. Life is not easy on the plantation.
Gabriel and his Pa love the horses—they have a way with them, but it is an unrecognized skill because they are Black men. Pa dreams of freedom for his wife and his son so he enlists in the Yankee’s Negro infantry. Gabriel is proud of his dad but when he goes to visit him, he sees that his dad is not truly free. He, along with the other black soldiers, dig trenches and chop and haul firewood for white soldiers. There is a significant difference in how the Black soldiers are treated and the white soldiers. Gabriel stays behind on the plantation.
Since Pa has left, Master Giles hires the best jockey around to train his horses and this man teaches Gabriel everything he knows. Their horses are revered in the racing community. Unfortunately, this attracts the Yankees who raid and try to steal the horses for their army. Gabriel knows this almost means certain death to the horses, so he tries his best to protect them from the battlefield. How far will he go to protect the horses? Will Gabriel achieve his dream of becoming a jockey himself? You will have to read Gabriel’s Horses to find out.
This book is in our library. It is 5 AR points.
My Thoughts (Careful! There May Be Spoilers):
This is a first-person, present tense narrative. It is written if Gabriel’s voice, accent and all, so it takes a while to get used to. But when you are reading with his voice in your mind, it helps you connect with Gabriel, and it adds a great deal to the time period and story.
This book is a real page-turner—an action-adventure story as well as historical fiction that I believe the kids will really enjoy. There are photographs and a non-fiction epilogue that help deepen the reader’s experience. It’s a very well-done historical fiction novel. I give it 4.0 stars.
Recommendations:
I love this book. But I’m a little worried that Gabriel’s voice—the accent shown in the writing—may throw kids off. It takes a little while to pick it up so it may be a little bit of a struggle. It is a short read—only 160 pages—so it may be a good one for a parent and child to read together. If a parent reads one or two pages in the character’s voice, your child may be able to pick it up and go with it. I wish this one would be in audio book format because it would help transport the reader back in time. It is a good one for 4th-8th grade readers.
