September 15, 2022
A young girl is able to heal with the help of an orphaned wild foal. Set in England, this poignant story interweaves the vulnerabilities of foster children with the healing power of animals, in this case, an orphaned Exmoor pony foal. When 11-year-old Addie is taken from her alcoholic mother and sent to a foster home far from the crowded street where she lived with Mam, she is at first resentful and afraid. Even though the foster home is welcoming, she still feels she needs to be with Mam and take care of her. At the foster home--a large farm--she meets two other foster children: 6-year-old Jude, who doesn't speak, and 10-year-old Sunni, who is cool toward her. There's also 14-year-old Gabe, the irrepressible son of the farm owners, Ruth and Sam. As the story unfolds, Addie very slowly learns to trust as she takes care of a tiny foal that Gabe found lost in the snow. Caring for the vulnerable creature, Addie gradually begins to navigate the deep waters of her relationship with her mother. The book is solidly written although a bit repetitive in the frequent mentions of how much Addie misses Mam, which, juxtaposed against the backstory of her neglect of Addie, may need further explanation for some readers. Addie is a nuanced, complicated protagonist, while Jude, Sunni, and Gabe are strong supporting characters. Characters read default White. Realistic and poignant. (Fiction. 9-12)
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September 26, 2022
Furious at being thrust into foster care and separated from her single mam, whose alcohol reliance has resulted in neglect, young Adelaide “Addie” Jones forms a deep, healing bond in this understated, tender debut. Brought to the sprawling Exmoor farm of kindly couple Ruth and Sam, who “only foster kids who have to stay a long time,” Addie, who is certain that her mam needs her, is wary of settling in alongside fellow foster kids Sunni, who can seem prickly, and Jude, who communicates without speech. But when she helps Ruth and Sam’s jovial 14-year-old son Gabe to calm an anxious foal found during a snowstorm, she discovers a profound kinship with the pony and grows accustomed to the farm’s pastoral rhythms. After learning that the foal will only be reunited with a wild herd—and his own mam—if deemed a “pureblood” Exmoor pony, Addie hatches a plan to secretly return him to the moor, no matter what the “experts” say. Emphasizing parallels between Addie’s longing for home and the wild pony’s displacement, Bailey’s third-person narration follows a fiercely resolute heroine on a gradual arc of hard-won acceptance around the challenges of her mother’s recovery. Sunni cues as South Asian; other characters read as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Emily Talbot, United Agents.
November 1, 2022
Grades 4-7 When Addie is placed at a foster family's farm in the middle of the British countryside, she's confident her stay will be brief. Sure that her mother, recently admitted to a treatment center for alcoholism, needs her help to recover, Addie plots a return home. But when a blizzard on the moorlands hinders Addie's plan, it also brings another newcomer to the farm: a tiny pony barely clinging to life. Addie is reluctant to care for the foal until it dawns on her that they've both been torn from their families, and she forms a remarkable bond with the ailing animal. If she can't get herself home, then perhaps she can find a way to return the wild pony to his herd before they're separated for good. Bailey's beautifully told story treads heavy subjects with care, and Addie brims with complicated emotions and an ever-expanding heart. Readers are welcomed into her affectionate foster family, and the other foster children, including a nonverbal boy, are given their own meaningful arcs. An eloquent examination of family in all forms.
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