Monday, October 03, 2005

Saddles, Stars, and Stripes: Chance of a Lifetime by Debra Kent

What will happen next? Jacquetta’s brothers Marcus and Adam were sent off to fight in the Civil War. Yankees have taken over Vicksburg, seven miles away from her home in Green Haven, so now she has to live with her aunt in Brookmoor. Jacquetta rides away from her aunt’s house on horseback after she decides that she misses her parents too much, but to her surprise the Yankees have taken Brookmoor also and her parents have fled. She sneaks into her horse barn just to find that her servant girl, Peace, is feeding her horses sugar. Peace tells her that the Yankees are going to take the rest of her horses sometime soon and they decide to hide them in the woods. Wit, Peace’s brother, arrives at the location where they hid the horses and tells the girls that Rachel, who lives at Deerfield, would know about her parents’ whereabouts. The girls head off to Rachel’s house and when they get there, she tells them that her parents went to her uncle’s place in Alexandria, Louisiana. The girls and Wit plan to go there next. Peace, Jacquetta, and Wit have some problems along the way but face them together.

Wow, this book is awesome! You will think so too as soon as you read this. Saddles, Stars, and Stripes: Chance Of A Lifetime is a real page-turner and the first in the series. The characters are very adventurous. This was a wonderful book. I recommend this book to kids in grades 3-7. I hope whoever else reads this book enjoys it because I know I did. I look forward to reading more of the books in this series also. Each one is set at a different time, but all have a heroine and a horse in the story.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 11
Reviewer City, State and Country: Upper Strasburg, PA United States