Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan



Here is a wonderful horse story in the tradition of Marguerite Henry's Misty and Walter Farley's Black Stallion series. In alternate chapters we meet Artemisia, a wild mustang who is very protective of her new foal, and Maya, who lives with her overly strict and controlling grandmother. After her grandmother dies, Maya is sent to Wyoming to live with her grandfather on a horse farm. To Maya's surprise and delight, she takes to the horses easily and quickly learns to ride. Maya discovers that she is very much like her mother,who, before she was killed in a car crash along with her father, loved horses. One day when Maya is far away from the family's summer camp, disaster strikes, and Maya is seriously injured in an earthquake. Artemisia is caught in the same valley. As Maya begins to communicate with Artemisia, both child and horse realize that they need each other to survive. They learn to trust each other as they overcome many obstacles on their way out of the devestated valley. Paint the Wind will take you on an amazing journey and an exhilarating "wild ride." Review by Trudy Walsh

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