Black Beauty [Paperback]

Black Beauty is a handsome, sweet-tempered colt with a strong spirit. As a young colt he is free to gallop in the fresh green meadows with his beloved mother, Duchess, and their kind master. But when his owners are forced to sell him, Black Beauty goes from a life of comfort and kindness to one of hard labour and cruelty. Bravely he works as hard as he can, suffering at the hands of men who treat animals badly. But Black Beauty has an unbreakable spirit and will, and is determined to survive . . . With a wonderful introduction by award-winning author Meg Rosoff, Black Beauty is one of the twenty best-loved classic stories being launched in the newly branded Puffin Classics series in March 2015.Anna Sewell (1820-78) was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Black Beauty, her only book, was completed and published in 1877, just a few months before she died, so she did not live to know of the book's huge success. Apart from being a good story, Black Beauty was instrumental in changing people's attitudes towards horses, and domestic animals in general.My Early Home

The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water lilies grew at the deep end. Over the hedge on one side we looked into a plowed field, and on the other we looked over a gate at our master's house, which stood by the roadside. At the top of the meadow was a plantation of fir trees, and at the bottom a running brook overhung by a steep bank.

While I was young I lived upon my mother's milk, as I could not eat grass. In the daytime I ran by her side, and at night I lay down close by her. When it was hot we used to stand by the pond in the shade of the trees, and when it was cold we had a nice warm shed near the plantation.

As soon as I was old enough to eat grass, my mother used to go out to work in the daytime and come back in the evening.

There were six young colts in the meadow blƒ1