How is it that I’ve only just gotten around to reading this classic novel by Anna Sewell? Black Beauty is narrated by a horse who experiences different owners and hardships in 19th century England. Black Beauty endures kind masters and mean, selfish ones.

“With cruelty and oppression, it is everybody's business to interfere when they see it”

Written as a political manifesto against the unnecessary mistreatment of horses, and indeed against cruelty in general, Anna Sewell builds an unmatched picture of Victorian contemporary life, high and low, whilst introducing children to the concept that animals have thoughts and feelings, hopes and fears just as they do.

This book carries a surprisingly up-to-date ecological message – that ignorance about the natural world is one of the most dangerous issues facing us today, and that empathy for the creatures with which we share our planet should be uppermost in our dealings with them.

Did you know, Black Beauty isn’t the full title. It’s actually Black Beauty, his grooms and companions; the autobiography of a horse, 'Translated from the original equine by Anna Sewell'. You can see why everyone shortens it. ( )

Black Beauty, a book that has sold millions of copies since it was first published in 1877, has gained somewhat curious status as a children's classic. The author originally wrote it as a work for adults to promote awareness of cruelty to horses. She succeeded in this when it became very popular soon after publication. It's the story of a horse who starts out his life well taken care of, but through circumstances beyond his control goes through a series of masters both kind and terrible.

Adults may find the author's message heavy-handed, but there are definitely a few gems, such as “...if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt,” and “...we have no right to distress any of God's creatures without a very good reason; we call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.”

For many children this is their first horse book and they want their parents to read it to them over and over again. Other children, however, might be upset by the scenes of animal cruelty on the way to the happy ending. You know your child best, so adult guidance is suggested. ( )

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

I had never actually owned a copy of this wonderful classic until very recently when I spotted this one well worn and loved in a house clear out of a relative and when I was asked if there was anything I would like to take as a memento I was so happy to give a home to this stunning book. Black Beauty was always out on loan from my school library and as a child I remembering constantly requesting the one copy as it was one the most popular read along with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

I adore animals of all shapes and sizes and cannot abide any sort of animal cruelty but this book brings back wonderful childhood memories for me and I think its an important book for children to read and understand that animals have feelings and they too feel pain just as humans do.

What a unique, heart-breaking and compelling read that is as beautiful and poignant today as it was when I read it as a 10 year old girl and am sure it was way back in 1877. The story is narrated in the first person as an autobiographical memoir told by Black Beauty himself. The Story begins with happy times as a colt on an English farm with his mother and the book continues as he goes through life.
This is a tale of hardships ,cruelty and kindness that broke my heart as child and all over again as an adult. It teaches real life lessons as bad things happen in life and yet there is always goodness out there somewhere, we just have to look for it sometimes.

We shall all have to be judged according to our works, whether they be towards man or towards beast.”
― Anna Sewell, Black Beauty

A beautiful book that has pride of place on my bookshelf for I hope many years to come. ( )

Wasn't a huge horse fan, but I did read this more than once when I was a tween.

Rereading for April/May Children's Books group. Got a very early edition from Open Library.

I am impressed, now that I have finished my reread, to see how Sewell tried to rub out the classism she saw around herself. Every person is an individual, and class & gender & age & money have little to do with whether they are good or bad people. Similarly, every horse is an individual, and all of them are capable of good behavior if only treated well. BB actually became wiser, because of his experiences, than his mother, who never did have to work as a cart horse nor was abused.

Highly recommended to all, not just children, and not just animal lovers or fans of history. ( )

Book 263 - Anna Sewell - Black Beauty

Another return to a simpler time in the late 1800s and another children’s classic. This one I knew nothing about and it blew me away. Told from the perspective of the horses…it is brilliant…it is emotional and it is dark…so dark…so very dark.

The life of a horse and his journey from kindness to cruelty and back again…as the years progress… we are taken from the English countryside into the city of London as Beauty goes from being owned by the landed gentry to being treated so poorly as a pack horse.

So many of these classics go to the ultimate of dark places…death stalks the characters and sometimes death wins. It shows us how animals were treated and in details that are hard to follow…and take in…how they were strapped…controlled and forced to wear bits and other hard metallic items that were so abusive. Horrible times.

It is emotional…and getting into the head and the heart of the horses is genius…what a change of pace and it feels so real…wow

I don’t know if any modern children’s book would ever dare to go to the places this one does. Superb…just superb. ( )