Esteban Makes an Appearance

 Hello,

My name is Esteban Barnes, well it's actually not my real name, it's my brush name. It's like a pen name, but for artists. Anyway, I am Miss K's brother and she wanted me to do a review since she has nothing to post about - an I just finished reading "Year of the Black Pony," not just, several days ago.

So if you have ideas as of what Miss K should blog about comment below.

Now to the book.

Year of the Black Pony

by Walt Morey

Year of the Black Pony! Wow!! Although this is a book for younger people ... no, any book is for everyone! Just like C.S. Lewis said, "A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest." 

A summary from Goodreads

"The Fellows family has joined numerous others striving to make a go of homesteading in the Oregon high desert. But the venture has been disastrous from the start. Mr. Fellows, who is not a farmer, resents any advice from his wife, who grew up on a farm. Ma is not only troubled about the farming, but 7-year old Ellie's chronic illness has become a source of constant worry and expense. 12-year old Chris, who cannot seem to please his father no matter what he does, eases his own misery by stealing time away from work to watch a neighbor's scarcely broken black pony, only to get into more trouble. When it seems circumstances could not get worse for the struggling family, Fellows gets drunk and dies. Not willing to give up, Ma stubbornly and creatively seeks a way for the family to stay Oregon. Frank Chase, an unintentional element in the death of Chris's father, is added to the mix and challenged by Ma to keep his word to help the family. The resultant dramatic and sometimes humorous contest of wills comes to a satisfying culmination when, after Frank's purchase of the wild black pony fro Chris, Ma is reluctantly forced to once again use her backbone of steel for the good of all. Walt Morey's careful research and vivid storytelling talent warmly bring to life the struggles and triumphs of homesteading in the oregon high desert country in the early 1900's. A great family read-aloud!"

My Thoughts

Well, I thought this book was amazing. It only took me 2 days to read, so if you have 2 days to use up, read this book! 

As you probably know from reading the summary up top, or if you didn't read the top, I'll explain down here as well. This book is about a family that wants to get away from the city life of a hard everyday factory job and seek a job that is more relaxing and can choose when to work - to manage themselves instead of having someone else tell 'em what to do. But as they settle down in the farm life, finding a cheap house and land, they realize just the opposite - farm life is hard. There is work to do every day, hard labor. 

I should stop telling you the whole story. I feel like I'm reading the book to you. If you're interested in what you've read so far on this blog, GO READ THE BOOK! And then comment below if I did a good job with the review. 

But before I stop typing I will also mention the horse. There. I mentioned it. A black pony, to be more specific. A wild black pony. 

I recommend this book to all people capable of reading! And I give it 5 stars!

If you get this far and are reading this sentence, I also have a blog where I post things to, or actually write and paste pictures of my artwork. So, if you like art, drawings and painting of things you should read that blog, https://sketcheddrawnandpainted.blogspot.com. 

-Esteban Barnes