Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley

I liked this book for a couple different reasons. The first is because of the story's plot. The little girl wants a horse for her birthday and is beyond excited when her day finally arrives. She goes to an auction with her dad and awaits for the perfect horse to come around. When her father finally bids and wins a horse Molly is not too happy about the mare he chose. She is a run down mare named Lady. He tells Molly that they can work their magic and fix her right up. Later in the story, Lady has a baby, and the baby is a mule. Throughout the story, Molly finds out that, just like his mother, Brown Sunshine has surprises in store. Another thing I liked about this book was that even though it is a chapter book, it still has a few small show more pictures. The pictures come at crucial times in the story to help describe the way something looks. For example, there is a small picture to show the worn out face of Lady when they first purchase her at the auction. I think the main idea of this story is not to judge a book by its cover. Molly did not want Lady because she looked old and worn out. Little did she know that Brown Sunshine would be born a little while later. She ended up enjoying the company of Lady and then getting another pet too! show less

This was the last book that Marguerite Henry wrote. After reading Misty of Chincoteague with the Vintage Book Circle I wanted to try it. When I was a kid I wanted lots of detail about how horses were trained and what riders did to improve their riding. Both of these books were very light on the detail. Good story. Made me interested in finding out more about mules.

Cute pony story told partly through diary entries, partly in third person.

A story of a girl’s dream of a horse and how the mule she receives brings her, her family, and a boy closer together.