Abby’s father names all the male horses that come through their farm George and all the female horses Jewel, and Abby knows it’s to keep the family from becoming too attached to them. Training and reselling horses is their business, and good horses never stay with them long. Especially now that Abby’s brother has left home, her helping in training them is important: The biggest market is for horses “even a little girl can ride.” But the horse Abby nicknames Ornery George can’t be ridden by a little girl—at least not by Abby, no matter how hard she tries. Her father’s methods don’t work; her uncle’s are catastrophic. Pulitzer Prize winner Smiley’s first book for younger readers is lush with the love of horses, old, young, cantankerous and wonderful. The difficulties Abby has at home and at school pale by comparison to her struggles with Ornery George, which makes her final victory even more sweet. It’s the minute details of work with the horses that make this book sing, and horse-mad readers will snap it up. (Historical fiction. 10-14)
