The Escape (Horses of the Dawn #1)

by Kathryn Lasky (Author)

The Escape (Horses of the Dawn #1)
Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade
Estrella is a filly, daughter of the lead mare, one of a shipment of horses bound for the new world, but when the ship is becalmed and the horses are dropped overboard to lighten the load, Estrella finds that it is up to her to lead the herd to land and safety.
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Publishers Weekly

Inspired by Hernando Cortes's 1519 reintroduction of horses to the New World for the first time in several thousand years, this inventive novel launches the Horses of the Dawn series. Lasky (the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series) tells the story through the perspective of Estrella, a filly determined to find her bloodline's ancient home in the New World. Born on a ship sailed by Spaniards on a gold-seeking mission to Mexico, Estrella, her dam (mother), and several other horses are thrown overboard to lighten the vessel. As her mother sinks after a shark attack, a flash in her eyes reveals to Estrella her destiny to follow the scent of sweet grass and the image of a tiny, sprinting horse to lead her herd to freedom. A resonant mystical undercurrent marks the quest, which involves occasionally bloody clashes with animal predators and unscrupulous humans. Lasky successfully fuses fantasy and fact as she gives her equine characters credible emotional depth and underscores the tensions and disparity between Old and New World sensibilities. It's a haunting story of loss, self-discovery, survival, and homecoming. Ages 8-12. (Jan.)

Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6--Lasky begins this new series with an origin story about wild mustangs. The young filly Estrella, named for the star-shaped mark on her forehead, is born on a conquistador's ship heading for the New World. When the conquistadors decide to jettison the weaker and older horses, Estrella and her dam, Perlina, are dumped into the ocean with several other horses. Perlina dies in a shark attack, but Estrella and the other horses make it to land. Guided by Estrella's visions of faraway grasslands, the horses head north from Mexico toward the Western plains of what is now the United States. It is a long and hazardous journey through jungles where they encounter jaguars, crocodiles, and other predators. Their most dangerous encounters, however, are with human beings, as the horses become caught up in the clash between Spanish soldiers of fortune and the Native people. The author includes some gruesome but historically accurate details about what happened to these animals during the Spanish conquest. This story is fast paced and full of action, but there is also a mythic resonance in Estrella's visions of the horses' long ago prehistoric ancestor and their return to North America. Although the horses are anthropomorphized to a degree, Lasky creates a believable culture for them, based on actual equine behavior. Young equestrians and horse lovers are an obvious audience for this series, but fans of Lasky's previous books will also find much to enjoy.--Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Praise for Kathryn Lasky's Wolves of the Beyond series:

"This is a soulful, searching read consumed with the spiritual journeys of animals and the ethereal connection between slayer and slain. . . . With an invigorating ending that bodes well for the next volume." — BOOKLIST

"The author builds a captivating world of forest, snow and volcanoes populated by intelligent animals and weaves a compelling story sure to bring readers back for the second installment." — KIRKUS REVIEWS

Kathryn Lasky
Kathryn Lasky is the Newbery Honor-winning author of over 100 books for children and young adults. Her beloved Guardians of Ga'Hoole fantasy series has more than seven million copies in print, and she is the author of the Daughters of the Sea series and the Wolves of the Beyond series, as well as iA Time for Courage/i and other Dear America titles. Kathryn has also written a number of critically acclaimed historical fiction titles, such as iBeyond the Burning Time/i and iTrue North/i. She lives with her husband in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780545397162
Lexile Measure
730
Guided Reading Level
V
Publisher
Scholastic Press
Publication date
January 20, 2014
Series
Horses of the Dawn
BISAC categories
JUV029000 - Juvenile Fiction | Nature & the Natural World | General
JUV001000 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure
JUV002130 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Horses
Library of Congress categories
History
Mothers and daughters
Responsibility
North America
Horses
Leadership

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