The Black Stallion Still Rocks

It started with “Book Bunch After Lunch,” a program at my daughter’s school that gathers kids from grades 3 to 5 once a month to talk about books. I had to volunteer for a program that encourages reading, and it was worth my time. The kids were eager to talk about books – not only the book they’d planned to talk about as part of the program – but other books they read for school and for pleasure. Some of the titles I expected were there, such as Junie B. Jones and American Girl books, but I was truly amazed at the variety of books the boys and girls read.

That got me to thinking about the books I read at their ages (8 and 9), including the amazing Black Stallion books by Walter Farley. I lived for those books, I thought about them constantly, I made up more stories for my journal to flesh out the series. I wished the books were about me and my horse. I asked one group if they’d heard of the series – they hadn’t, but they promptly looked for it in the school’s library and one triumphant student checked out the sole copy.

Talking about the series made me wonder: does anyone read those books today? According the The Black Stallion website, yes; in fact, author Walter Farley’s son Tim runs a literacy foundation in Florida. It was fun after all these years to learn more about the man behind the books. Walter Farley wrote The Black Stallion while still in high school and it was published by Random House when he was attending Columbia University. Not surprisingly, he had a life-long love of horses, and owned several during his lifetime. Now, the books inspire a new generation of kids. If they are lucky enough to live in Florida and participate in the program, they even get to visit Tim’s farm and meet his horses.

Posted by Paula Krapf of Author Marketing Experts, Inc.

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