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GABRIEL'S HORSES
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Written by
Alison Hart
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Hardcover: $14.95
ISBN: 978-1-56145-398-6
Total Pages: 160
Size: 5-1/2 x 8-1/2
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Paperback: $4.99
ISBN: 978-1-56145-528-7
Total Pages: 160
Size: 5-1/2 x 8-1/2
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Middle Reader, ages 8-12/Fiction/History
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Alison Hart is the author of more than forty books for young readers, including many popular mysteries, the Riding Academy series, and Shadow Horse‚ a 2000 Edgar nominee for best children's mystery. Hart is a teacher at Blue Ridge Community College and lives in Virginia. Click here to learn more about her Author in Schools presentations.You can visit Alison Hart's website at: www.alisonhartbooks.com
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RACING TO FREEDOM TRILOGY
In the first book of this engrossing middle-grade trilogy set during the Civil War, a young Kentucky slave dares to pursue his dream of becoming a jockey.
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Accelerated Reader & Reading Counts Tests:
Reading Counts Test #: Q40827
Reading Counts Level: 4.0
AR Quiz#: 113743
AR Reading Level: 4.6
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THE YEAR IS 1864 and twelve-year-old Gabriel hopes to one day become a famous jockey. Although he is the son of a free black father and a slave mother - making him a slave as well - he loves to help his father, one of the best horse trainers in Kentucky, care for the thoroughbred racehorses on Master Giles's farm.
But the violence of war disrupts the familiar routine of daily life on the farm. One-Arm Dan Parmer and his band of Confederate raiders are threatening area farms and stealing horses. When Gabriel's father enlists in a Colored Battalion to help the Union Army and earn enough money to purchase freedom for his wife and son, Gabriel is both proud and worried. But the absence of his father brings the arrival of Mr. Newcastle, a white horse trainer with harsh, cruel methods for handling horses...and people.
Now it is up to Gabriel to protect the horses he loves from Mr. Newcastle and keep them safely out of the clutches of One-Arm Dan and his men.
Author Alison Hart mines the complex relationships between white and black, slave and master, Unionist and Confederate, and old and young in this gripping work of historical fiction. Young readers will experience the danger and drama of a time when war split the country and human being were segregrated into the owner and the owned based on the color of their skin.
Background historical material and photos are included.
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Reviews
"At the core of this stirring historical novel is the question of what freedom means...The boy’s first-person, present-tense narrative brings close the thrilling horse racing— on the plantation, at the race course, and in the war— and the African American history in all it’s complexity."Booklist "The author grounds this fast-paced tale in historical fact by providing a nonfiction epilogue. Readers will find this wonderful blend of history and horses appealing."School Library Journal
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Awards
* 2008 Kansas State Reading Circle (middle school/junior high division)
* Master List, 2008-2009 Texas Bluebonnet Award
* Nominee, 2007 Lamplighter Award
* Nominee, 2007-2008 Kentucky Bluegrass Awards
* Nominee, 2008-2009 Kansas State Reading Association Young Adult Book Award
* Nominee, 2008-2009 Horned Toad Tales
* Nominee, 2008-2009 Flicker Tale Children’s Book Award
* Nominee, 2008-2009 West Virginia Children’s Book Award
* Nominee, 2009-2010 Young Hoosier Book Award
* Nominee, 2009-2010 Mark Twain Readers Award
* Nominee, 2009-2010 Sunshine State Young Readers' Award (grades 6-8)
* Nominee, 2010 Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award
* Nominee, 2010-2011 Golden Sower Awards
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More books by Author/Illustrators:
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Anna's Blizzard
A young Nebraska girl discovers the courage to save others during a life-threatening snowstorm
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Emma's River
Horse-crazy girls and Titanic fans will love this action-packed adventure story set on a steamboat on the Missouri River in the nineteenth century.
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Gabriel's Journey
“These last few months have been an incredible journey for you, Gabriel. You’ve been a slave, a son, a jockey, a soldier and a savior. But your journey isn’t over.”
Read More
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Gabriel's Triumph
In the second book in the Racing to Freedom trilogy, ex-slave Gabriel faces challenges and setbacks as he pursues his dream of becoming a famous jockey.
Read More
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