Mending Horses

Set in the nineteenth century, sixteen year old Daniel Linnehan finally frees himself from working for Mr. Lyman to pay back his late father’s debt. While passing through a city, Daniel is wrongfully accused of stealing everything he has brought with him, even his beloved horse, Ivy. After spending the night in a shed, a peddler named Jonathan Stocking finds Daniel and lets him join himself and a young girl named Billy, who disguises as a boy in order to hide from her drunkard father. While peddling, the threesome meets Mr. Stocking’s old “friend,” Fred, who runs a traveling circus. Upon invitation, they join the circus, with Mr. Stocking playing the fiddle, Billy singing, and Daniel mending the sick and tired horses. But soon Billy finds that her father has found her, and she has a tough decision: stay with Mr. Stocking and Daniel, or go and live with her seemingly repentant father.

Even though I really liked this book, I would not recommend it for young children, because the plot involves death and characters who drink and cheat. I think it would be a good supplement for history classes around that time period.