The Horse Who Carries the Stars

by Darby Karchut

Overview

13-year-old Reece Harding has both hands full dealing with one headstrong mare who's all go and no whoa.

When a wildfire threatens their corner of Colorado, it's going to take all of Reece's mad horse skills and some Appaloosa luck to save the day and prove to herself-and her family-she can handle Kip, the horse who carries the stars on her rump and a fire in her heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781958109663
Publisher:	Owl Hollow Press, LLC
Publication date:	08/06/2024
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.51(d)
Age Range:	10 - 12 Years

About the Author

Darby Karchut is an award-winning author, former teacher, and compulsive dawn greeter. Her many books include DEL TORO MOON (middle grade fantasy series) and ON A GOOD HORSE (middle grade contemporary). She is the recipient of the Colorado Book Award, the High Plains Book Award, the Will Rogers Medallion Award, the Moonbeam Children's Book Silver Award, and the IPPY Silver Award. A native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms. When not dodging death by Colorado, Darby can be found wrangling words. Visit the author at www.darbykarchut.com and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads, and Owl Hollow Press.

Editorial Reviews

2024-07-16
In Karchut’s middle-grade novel, a 12-year-old girl sets out to prove she can handle a new horse with a tendency to run at full speed.

Reece Harding loves spending summers in Valencia, Colorado, with her grandparents while her parents stay home in Denver. She cares for and rides horses all summer—this year, she’s saddened to say goodbye to her horse Rio. (Her parents sold him to help pay for college for Reece’s older sister, who technically had shared ownership.) Reece gets a horse of her own when her grandfather Poppy scores a great deal. The girl is instantly smitten with Kip, an Appaloosa mare who has a fondness for sprinting. The problem is, if Reece has trouble controlling Kip, then Poppy and Nana, fearing their granddaughter will be hurt, won’t hesitate to sell the horse. She exercises and trains Kip with a bit of help from same-aged neighbor Alex Nash, Rio’s new owner. When a wildfire unexpectedly hits the area, the two youngsters work together to protect every one of their families’ horses. Karchut’s adolescent protagonist delivers believable, charming first-person narration (“Yup, that’s me. Reece Harding, all-around ranch hand and horse wrangler. Will work for room and board”). She worries about others, whether human or equine, and feels guilty when she disobeys her grandparents or takes her anger out on someone. The story shrewdly pairs her with varied characters: free-spirited Kip, her doting grandparents, and Alex, who has his own family turmoil (having recently lost his mother). Some chapters intermittently and briefly focus on Kip’s perspective; she calls herself Carries the Stars, and she quickly takes to Reece, whom she affectionately calls Mouse. The surprisingly suspenseful final act leads readers to a worthy denouement.

A superb cast highlights this quiet, insightful tale of interspecies friendship.

Kirkus Reviews