A Horse Named Summertime – Barb E. Jensen
Posted on: March 2, 2008
When fifteen-year-old Katie Harrison receives a pregnant Morgan horse named Summertime as an early birthday present, she’s crazy with joy. It’s the first step toward her dream of raising, training, and showing horses in the future. But Katie’s happiness ends when her mother, who was always against the idea of getting a horse, decides to sell Summertime after Katie has a riding accident.
With the help of Brian, the cute boy who just moved into town, she’s able to show her mom that Summertime really is a sweet horse. Her mother finally agrees to let her keep Summertime, but not the baby. Katie is still determined to find a way to keep the foal, though she says nothing to her mother.
Even as Katie keeps her grades up in school and takes care of Summertime, things don’t go smoothly. Her mother, who is afraid of Katie growing up, does not approve of Katie hanging out with Brian, especially because he’s older. So when Brian asks Katie to the dance and Katie isn’t allowed to go, Katie’s afraid that Brian will think of her as a little kid. And when Brian refuses to teach Katie to jump, she knows there’s something wrong.
As a horse lover, I jumped at the chance to read this book. It was a good story and I could definitely relate to Katie. However, the whole book seemed to revolve around dialogue, and telling, not showing. While I love dialogue, most of what the characters said in the story seemed forced and unnatural. I think that if there had been more showing instead of telling and the dialogue was more natural, there would have been more character development and their actions would have seemed more reasonable.
That said, if you, like me, are able to get past the dialogue and into the story, I’m sure you’ll like this book just as I did.
*Reviewed for TRT*
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