I really did love these books when I was a kid. Really. Of course, I wasn’t as critical then as I am now.

The Black Stallion Returns is the highly imaginative follow up to The Black Stallion. In this adventure the Black’s real owner comes to claim him .The night before the owner appears there is an attempt on the Black’s life and it’s all very suspicious. Alec is destroyed by the news that his beloved horse will be leaving him, probably forever, and he leaps at the opportunity to follow him overseas to exotic Araby. Once there he learns that the Black was specifically bred for one race which will make or break his real owner. The Black was stolen so that his owner would lose the race. Ah, I smell a mystery!

Well, just a little one. It’s interesting enough to engage a kid, but the book isn’t printed with great big letters for no reason.

The writing is mediocre. People don’t talk that way people talk. "The steward told me that we have a capacity load and that requires a long run. Remember, too, that a baby like this carries around 4000 gallons of gas." In the biz, this is called an info dump. But this is the author’s second book and he really hasn’t had a lot of practice.

The story is exotic and exciting. Once again Alec must earn his horse with his own skin. He convinces an adult to take him half way around the world to look for him, crosses a desert, avoids being baked, earns the respect of the Black’s owner, nearly gets himself killed, and never swears once. Its setting of 1940’s Arabia means I can’t comment on the accuracy, but I can say that it seems complete. I could picture where they were, what was going on, and why it was so important.

There isn’t much for the average American parent to object to. There is no sex and there’s barely any romance (we get that in The Black Stallion and the Girl.) There’s no offensive language (but you can learn to say yes and no in Arabic.) There is some violence. A couple people get killed, but it’s not graphically described. There’s no heavy message here. It’s just an adventure novel.

You may want to read these books for nostalgia purposes, but don’t read expecting great literature. It’s ok, but I guess I was remembering it better than it was. If, however, you know a little girl with serious thing for horses, give her these books. You can satisfy her craving and improve her reading ability at the same time.


Recommended: Yes