American Pharoah: Triple Crown Champion

Gr 4-8—Before racehorse American Pharoah thundered across the finish line at Belmont Stakes on June 6, 2015, no thoroughbred had won the Triple Crown in 37 years. Readers who are passionate about horses are likely to enjoy Mickle's admiring profile of this young steed and the people who worked together to make him a champion. The book begins at the post on June 6 and then cycles back to Pharoah's birth (the misspelling of pharaoh was unintentional but noted only after he had already been officially registered). Subsequent chapters alternate between the growth and training of the horse and the childhood and training of jockey Victor Espinoza. While Mickle includes many facts about thoroughbreds and the sport of racing, the tone is often sentimental and at times melodramatic: "Soon, the yet unnamed brown colt...would touch Victor's life with the dust of a real-life fairy tale." In addition, the metaphors are often perplexing ("He did it on the fly as smoothly as if warm syrup were being poured on something very delicious—only in this case, it was delicious speed."). Though some thoughts and statements are placed in quotation marks and there is a list of sources, much of the narrative appears to be conjecture: "Pharoah never thought of himself as fancy; all he cared about was being with Smokey and getting his share of the sweet-cake hay." VERDICT An additional purchase where horses are popular.—Jennifer Costa, Cambridge Public Library, MA