Thirteen-year-old Skye Nicholson is in court for something. She is assigned to a foster mother named Mrs. Chambers, who makes Skye do farm work, go to church, and has many rules about her home facilities.
On the bright side, Skye develops a passion for this horse called Champ. However, she must improve her behavior to gain more privileges, such as being around Champ.
I haven’t read this book in years. However, I do remember enough to review it. I must also admit that I loved horses as a child and still do. In fact, I used to ride regularly from ages 8 to about 14.
This book has a lot of memorable moments. Aside from the strong and engaging writing, many scenes stand out to me, such as when Mrs. Chambers comforts Skye and when Skye and Morgan, a physically disabled girl, ride horses together.
Another moment that I have strong feelings about is when Skye hurt another girl at school, ran away, and got punished by her foster parents. That was where she couldn’t use any of the facilities or see Champ the horse.
There are also some parts that I felt were flawed. One is how Mrs. Chambers only allows Christian music and makes Skye go to church.
What if Skye were another religion? I considered that insensitive of Mrs. Chambers. It would have been better if the music allowed was something else, such as clean music with no explicit lyrics.
Another moment that stood out to me was when Mrs. Chambers first met Skye and said, “You can call me Mrs. Chambers or Mrs. C, but never Eileen.” The third part felt unnecessary to me, especially when an adult talks to a thirteen-year-old.
Speaking of which, Skye wouldn’t join a teen club Morgan offered her since she still thought she was only a kid. But thirteen is a teenager. Plus, most thirteen-year-olds are excited to finally be teens and not younger children anymore.
Other than those issues, I really enjoyed the story and rate it 4 out of 5 stars.