Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Each of these ""deluxe editions"" of classic novels are packaged with a gimmicky necklace (thus the ""charm"" in the series title). For collections, the value of these unabridged hardcovers is the inexpensive price. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This classic tale of a horse?s life in Victorian England is reprinted complete and unabridged on sturdy pages with generous type size. Andrew?s black-and-white sketches add accents here and there, but lack sufficient detail to contribute much to the narrative. A note about the author concludes the book. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Fiction: I Needham's sixteen full-color paintings feature a good variety of scenes from this well-known Victorian horse story. The glossy illustrations are printed back to back and bound at intervals into the text, so that none of them appears adjacent to the passage it portrays. Other features -- the endpapers, the jacket, the spacious pages -- do enhance the design of this somewhat expensive book. Horn Rating: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration. Reviewed by: mfs (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Never before has this favorite been so handsomely, and appropriately, illustrated. Keeping (d. 1988), a master draftsman who illustrated 300 books, including all of Dickens, has provided a bountiful number of drawings (some subtly touched with color), combining piercing caricature, compassion, and a sure eye for the horses' beauty, movement, and (at the worst of times) plight. A masterpiece of illustration, capturing the book's drama and period while rising nobly above its sentimentality. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Fiction: I This edition of the classic horse story is handsomely illustrated by an artist well known for her accurate depiction of animals. Told from the horse's point of view, Black Beauty's life begins and ends in comfort, but he discovers how difficult and unpredictable life can be with a man as his master. An afterword by Peter Glassman provides information on the author, the artist, and the book. Horn Rating: Superior, well above average. Reviewed by: sl (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Fiction: I The classic Victorian story of a horse's life has been newly illustrated with clear, beautiful drawings. A handsome edition of a cherished favorite. Horn Rating: Superior, well above average. Reviewed by: aaf (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

To condense these two great classics to a forty-eight-page young reader format, the plots have been skimmed over, making actions abrupt and characters flat. Sketchy watercolors help to restore some sense of place and character, while color photographs and somewhat intrusive margin notes give background for aspects of the stories. Black Beauty is geared toward more ""proficient readers."" Glos. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

An abridgement (to about a third) of the classic horse story by Anna Sewell, first published in 1877. Normally, abridgements of famous stories cheat the reader: even when the new work has merit, reading it is a different, usually inferior experience. This case is different. Black Beauty is as much tract as Story, an exhaustive exploration of the treatment and mistreatment of the Victorian horse, aimed at reform. McKinley has used the author's words and retained most major events, pruning out extra incidents that reinforce the author's point but leaving the message clear. The result reads well and still gives a sufficiently detailed overview of the uses and abuses of the pre-automobile horse for most modern children. Jeffers' large, colorful illustrations, pen and wash with crosshatching, are satisfyingly full of quintessentially beautiful horses; they can be faulted only for being too pretty: even the poor, the underfed, the moribund, are pictured as sleek and lovely. Yet that too is in Sewell's spirit--it's the ""beauty"" who wins advocates. An attractive edition that should win new friends for an old favorite. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Horn Book
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Fiction: Y Horn Rating: Unacceptable in style, content, and/or illustration. Reviewed by: as (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The classic horse story is presented in an unabridged format. Each chapter begins with a small scratchboard drawing; unfortunately, the same handful of illustrations is recycled throughout, giving the volume a generic presentation. The book, which includes a ribbon bookmark, ends with a list of open-ended questions (""Would it have been as powerful a story if it was told from the human point of view?""). (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The story of Black Beauty is presented here unabridged, supplemented by color drawings and heavily captioned archival reproductions. The drawings are bland, and the captions are occasionally irrelevant or intrusive, but the historical art helpfully shows the bearing rein and other tack and equipages referred to in the text. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.