Black Stallion #02: The Black Stallion Returns

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Home School Book Review, July 4, 2011 (view all comments by Home School Book Review)
Several years ago, my wife went to the library and checked out Walter Farley’s The Black Stallion and its sequel The Black Stallion Returns for our older son Mark, who was then middle-school age, to read. At that time, I read The Black Stallion, in which a young boy named Alec Ramsay, who is returning from a visit to his uncle in India, and a mysterious Arabian horse which Alec calls the Black are the sole survivors of a shipwreck on an island off the coast of Portugal. Later, after the two are rescued, Alec trains the Black and the horse wins a very important race. However, I did not get to read the sequel. As The Black Stallion Returns opens, the Black is being housed in the stables of Alec’s neighbor Henry Dailey, a horse trainer.
One night, someone tries to steal or kill the horse, but is scared away, dropping a gold neck chain with a medallion having a phoenix carved in ivory on it. Shortly after that, an Arabian sheik named Abu Ja’kub ben Ishak comes with all the necessary paperwork to claim the Black as his own and refusing to sell the horse at any price takes him back to Arabia. Not knowing this, Charles Volence, the owner of one of the horses which the Black had beaten, arrives to see if he can buy the horse. Volence invites Alec and Henry to go to Arabia with him to ask if Abu Ishak might change his mind about selling the Black or at least might be willing to sell him some of the horse’s offspring. After landing in Arabia, they meet Ibn al Khaldun who has a medallion just like the one they found in the stable. On the way across the desert to Ishak’s territory, their guide is killed and his assistants flee with all their supplies during a sand storm. Can they survive the desert? Do they make it to Ishak? And will Alec ever see his beloved Black again?
The Black Stallion is a good boy-and-his-horse story. But for sheer adventure and excitement, it is hard to beat The Black Stallion Returns. I really enjoyed reading the book. It would make good fictional reading to supplement a study of Arabia. Concerning language, some common euphemisms (primarily “gosh” and “gee”) are found. Other than a few references to smoking tobacco and wagering on horse races, there is nothing else objectionable. Farley wrote some 21 books in “The Black Stallion” series, including Son of the Black Stallion, The Black Stallion and Satan, The Black Stallion’s Ghost, The Black Stallion Revolts, The Black Stallion Mystery, The Island Stallion, The Island Stallion’s Fury, The Black Stallion and Flame, and The Black Stallion Challenged. The final book, The Young Black Stallion, which is actually a “prequel,” was co-written with Farley’s son Steven.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780679813446

Author:

Farley, Walter

Publisher:

Yearling Books

Location:

New York :

Subject:

Fiction

Subject:

Children's fiction

Subject:

Horses

Subject:

Classics

Subject:

Action & Adventure

Subject:

Children's 9-12 - Fiction - General

Subject:

Adventure and adventurers

Subject:

Animals - Horses

Subject:

Action & Adventure - General

Subject:

Black (Fictitious character: Farley)

Subject:

Children s-Adventure Stories

Copyright:

1991

Edition Number:

1

Edition Description:

Bullseye Books Paperback

Series:

Black Stallion Series

Series Volume:

02

Publication Date:

19910831

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

RL: 5.9

Language:

English

Pages:

240

Dimensions:

7.68x5.30x.60 in. .35 lbs.

Age Level:

10-13