Black Beauty (Classic Starts Series)

Following Sterling's spectacularly successful launch of its children's classic novels (240,000 books in print to date),comes a dazzling new series: Classic Starts. The stories are abridged; the quality is complete. Classic Starts treats the world's beloved tales (and children) with the respect they deserve—all at an incomparable price.

Black Beauty is the classic horse story, a beautiful and touching tale told by the title character himself. Set in Victorian London, it follows Beauty's life and changing fortunes as he moves from owner to owner. As the horse encounters new experiences and new friends who reveal their own histories, the story quietly paints a fascinating portrait of how animals were treated during that era.

Anna Sewell wrote this story with the horse telling the story of his life. She wrote it to publicise various cruelties and sufferings story does provide a means of empathy for people to animals, it is still mostly heartening and is not as "heavy" as it could have been. It was at the time and still is a popular and beloved storyfor young readers.