A classic tale that shaped my childhood
Written: Jun 01 '00 (Updated Jun 01 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Inspiring true story, beautiful illustrations
Cons: Parts of the story are very sad, which may upset younger children
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| halfsweet's Full Review: Marguerite Henry - King of the Wind: Learning Thro... |
Like many an other bookworm, I live between my ears. The life that passes by outside my head holds but scant interest compared to the life that goes on within. My children have been heard to swear that a bomb could go off at my feet and I would not hear it if I was reading or writing.
I admit, somewhat shamefacedly, it is true.
When I look back upon my life and try to determine who and what made me as I am, of course, I must give much credit (and a soupçon of fault) to my parents. But the largest influence came from a great gift my parents gave to me, and that was early exposure to the world of ideas and words and books. Books were windows into other realities, and each time I opened one, I truly fell in. Like some greedy suckling infant, I read into the wee hours of the night, concealing books and flashlights beneath my covers. As time went on, my mother didn't even try to confiscate my contraband; she knew it was no use, that I would read half the night no matter what.
Out of that great treasure trove of books my parents provided me, I was told to pick one for the Children's Book Write-off. For a moment I thought it would be an insurmountable difficulty to choose just one; then the perfect title rose through the mists of my memory and presented itself to me: Marguerite Henry's King of the Wind. Beautifully illustrated by her collaborator, Wesley Dennis, the book won the Newbery Medal in 1949, the year I was born. So, it seems like we were meant for each other.
King of the Wind tells the true story of The Godolphin Arabian, the founding sire of modern Thoroughbreds. There is not a champion running on modern racetracks in whose veins the blood of this stallion does not course. But his road to immortality was a long and difficult journey.
Originally sent along with five other Arabian stallions as a gift from the Sultan of Morocco to young King Louis XV of France, Sham (Arabic for sun) had been meant to curry favor. But the ship's captain pocketed the money meant to feed the horses and their stable boys for himself, so the group arrived in France in pitiful condition, with their bones sticking out. Young Louis's courtiers took the gift as an insult, and sent five of the horses away, keeping Sham to work pulling the kitchen cart from the market to the palace. His spirit and small size served to keep him in trouble; Sham and his beloved mute stable boy, Agba, and companion cat, Grimalkin, were booted from home to home for transgressions both real and perceived. It made people even angrier that the only person who could control the wild horse was the small and unassuming Agba.
After Agba deliberately let Sham get to the beauteous Lady Roxanne, a silvery mare the Earl of Godolphin had reserved for breeding with his favorite stallion, Hobgoblin, they were literally banished to a swamp. After two dismal years there, they were retrieved by the Earl after he noticed the colt produced by that impromptu union could outrun anything else on his estate. Sham was reunited with Lady Roxanne and sired a series of sons who went on to win the prestigious Queen's Cup. The success of the Goldophin Arabian's offspring on the race track actually rescued the Earl's estate from serious financial difficulties.
I learned so many lessons from this book; the value of perseverance, of humility, of doing things the right way as opposed to the expedient way. I prized Agba's gentleness of spirit and tried to emulate that at the same moment I was trying to incorporate Sham's fieriness into my psyche. It made for some intersting moments in my childhood, as I'm sure my confused parents would have been willing to attest.
Like many other young girls, I was a total horse nut, most unhappy with my parents for their continued refusal to allow me to keep a horse in our postage stamp sized back yard. I couldn't understand why they just wouldn't see reason, but they kept muttering something about deed restrictions or some such nonsense, so I had to feed my horse mania with my book mania, and Marguerite Henry quickly became my favorite author. By the time she died in Southern California at the age of 95 in 1997, she had penned 59 children's books, 15 in collaboration with Wesley Dennis, many of them regarded as classics. Today, new generations of children may thrill to Henry's most famous stories,including King of the Wind, Misty of Chincoteague, Black Gold and Born to Trot and many others. Her vivid writing brought the much longed for world of horses to life in the comfort and security of my little bedroom.
Reading the sad yet ultimately triumphant story of the Godolphin Arabian transformed my life. My friends and I used to pretend we were Arabians in elementary school. We would gallop around the playground, tossing our hair as if it were manes, whinnying and generally attracting the scorn of our classmates. I didn't care. When I was running, I was free. I was a horse. I was the wind.
For those golden moments of my childhood, I have Marguerite Henry and Dennis Wesley to thank. Her marvelous story, his superb illustrations, made King of the Wind come alive for me. Here I am more than forty years later, and it is alive for me still. In telling the inspiring story of an immortal horse, Henry and Dennis achieved immortality themselves.
One of these days, I will finally have my own King of the Wind. I can think of no better retirement hobby than to fly over hill and dale mounted on the back of a fleet-footed Arabian. I only hope I can afford him. I have the feeling I couldn't get away with galloping around the activity room of the retirement home flicking my walker over my shoulder like it was a long, silky mane.
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Thank you, gentle reader, for perusing this review. Now, for your entertainment, may I suggest you visit the following reviewers, who have also contributed to this Children's Book Write-Off? They are:
forkids, Leah, gracef, KristinThomas, caconti, cornelia, conradd, stonehousellc, Grouch, auntnono, taurusmoon, DoubleCoog, caravan70, kcfoxy, mshawpyle, sleestakk, kchowell, emlin, CurtisEdmonds, fdknight, WorkingMomof2, expono, kimmiko, Bonies7, pogomom, Redlass, poseidon, jrk, sweetpaulie, ErgoPropterHoc, andy
You may access all their reviews through the following link:
http://www.epinions.com/book-Write_off-forkids --
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
halfsweet
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Member: Patricia Smith
Location: Temporarily in Texas
Reviews written: 125
Trusted by: 188 members
About Me:
Engage my brain...the rest of me will follow.
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