Smoky the Cow Horse

Winner of the 1927 Newbery Medal, this children's novel about a mouse-colored cow-horse named Smoky has been favorably compared to that classic (and pioneering) pony story, Black Beauty, and I think the pairing is rather apt. Both books follow the same basic narrative trajectory, beginning with a

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horse whose owners are responsible and kind, following him through his early years of prosperity and well-being, his traumatic middle years, suffering at the hands of less enlightened human beings, and his eventual reunion, as a broken-down older horse, with his original keeper/companion. Both books do an excellent job of capturing the horse's perspective, and both offer a moving portrait of their equine heroes and the humans they encounter.

Of course, Smoky, The Cow Horse is set in the ranching country of the western United States, in the early years of the twentieth century, and Black Beauty in nineteenth-century England. While Black Beauty is a saddle-horse (to begin with, anyway), Smoky spends his first few years in the wild, before being broken as a working horse. And my, how beautifully James captures that early time in Smoky's life, the dynamics of the wild horse herd, the instincts of a young colt! The writing here is highly idiomatic - a sort of western/cowboy dialect that, while not "correct" English, has a poetic and highly descriptive quality to it. Many readers seem to have had trouble with James' language, but I found that, after a period of adjustment, it really resonated with me, and added to the beauty of the story.

There are many things I enjoyed about this book, from the language to the characters, and I will not soon forget the understated pathos of the love that develops between Smoky and Clint, the cowboy who breaks the high-spirited horse in, and becomes his only human friend. The mistreatment that Smoky suffers, after being stolen by a brutal horse thief, and eventually turned into a rodeo attraction, was very difficult to read about, and even the happy ending, with its reunion of horse and man, can't quite take away its sting. The illustrations - done by James himself - are absolutely delightful, although I found myself wishing that I had an older edition, rather than this 1970s reprint, so I could see them as color plates, rather than black and white reproductions.

In short, this was in many ways an excellent book, and had it not been for one thing, I might have awarded it four stars. And that "thing," is the racism to be found in the portrait of "the breed" - the mixed-race horse thief who steals Smoky. The constant references to his dark face/complexion, the way this is tied to his brutal treatment of Smoky, seems too pointed (to borrow a friend's word for it) to be dismissed as simply "of the times." Especially when one considers that the inhumane vegetable seller who ends up owning Smoky (Cloudy by then) towards the end of the story, is also described as dark-skinned. When James describes the horse thief as "a degenerate halfbreed and not fit to be classed amongst humans," it's a difficult thing to overlook.

Thankfully, the section involving the horse-thief (I refuse to call him "the breed!") is short. But although I wouldn't say it was the focus of the story, the racism is pronounced enough that it is a real detraction from the book's appeal. This is one I would recommend only to more mature horse-book lovers, who are old enough to have a discussion about the unfortunate racism to be found within its covers, either with a parent or a teacher.

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Read this when I was a child and loved it so. The drawings are wonderful, done by the author. This is the book that made me realize my destiny. I work with animals. I rescue as many as I can from cruel owners. And I think I might owe it all to Smoky. My copy is the original hardback. Lucky me.

This is a cowboy version of Black Beauty. I like it better because I like cowboys. Lots of "horse sense".

One of my favorite Will James books, the story follows the life of a range bred cow pony from his birth on through the years until he's finally earned his time at pasture. The simple ups and downs, confusion of learning to be saddled, life with good owners and bad, all are here. Smokey's life is

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neither idealized nor does he magically communicate with the humans he encounters. He's simply a cow pony, living the life of a horse in the West of his day.

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This is the book that started my obsession with Will James. If you love simple language and horses, this is the book for you. It's the chronicle of a man who breaks and trains a wonderful horse named oddly enough, Smokey. It's a simple man finds horse, man looses horse, and all the cruel and spirit

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breaking circumstances that change this horse to a loveing companion to a man killing renegade. The transformation is completed in the end, when Smokey finds his way back to his loving cowboy. This book is the Black Beauty of the American West! I recommend you read it and read it to your children.!

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This was an enjoyable read, though the colloquial language took some time to get used to. Mr. James convincingly describes the life of Smoky, the cowhorse. While he describes Smoky as having some human feelings, he also manages to make Smoky seem realistically a horse. Smoky's life is somewhat

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tragic - the more so since his life is not untypical. But there is a happy ending and examples of real kindness.

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I can easily see why this book won the Newbery Award. While I was reading I felt that I was sitting down at the campfire after a long day at work, listening to the story being told to me. The casual words of the cowboy just came naturally through, spelled and used as they would have been right

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there on the ranch. Though it is quickly described as being like Black Beauty with ranch hands, it was very entertaining and educational to follow the life of one ranch horse and see what could happen to him back in the days of the real cowboy.

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We experience this story primarily through the eyes of the horse. This is one of only two horse stories to win the Newbery Medal. The other is King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian. The author, Will James, was himself a cowboy during the final days of the Wild West and is able to

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create the language and atmosphere of the Old West. Will James is a master author and illustrator who illustrated the story with scenes of Smoky at his wildest, at his fiercest, and at his finest. The story follows Smoky from the open range to his life as a cow horse, a rodeo star, and finally a saddle horse. When he is stolen, his cowboy Clint Barkley, the only cowboy Smokey will allow to ride him, tracks him down. This is a realistic animal story that allows the reader to really understand and appreciate these beautiful animals. The universal themes of courage, loyalty and true friendship combine with the authentic portrayal of ranch life, making this book a great read.

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A story of a great horse. Smoky is taught to be an excellent cowhorse, but even in his training, the cowboy teaching him sees the unusual abilities of this horse. Smoky spends many years as a cowhorse with Clint and the other cowboys, but one year, he is stolen by a renegade. The renegade treats

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Smoky harshly and turns Smoky into a bucking bronco, the fiercest horse in the West. Smoky spends many years establishing a reputation as a killer bronco, but gradually he grows old and tired and is sent to serve as a horse providing pony rides for children and old people. Somehow Clint finds Smoky again and the story ends happily ever after.The most fun part of the story is the way the whole book is written in cowboy dialect. The parts with the renegade have lots of racial slurs and can be difficult for a modern reader to get through.

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This book won the Newberry medal in 1927. It appears that it is the 10th such winner I have read. But it is not a good book for kids to read since it uses for no discernible reason bad grammar continually. It never says "knew" but instead says "knowed". It also deliberately misspells words saying

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"figgered" for '"figured". I found this very irritating and deplored that such a book would be thought to be a good book for kids trying to use literste English. It tells of a horse born in Montana who is eventually trained to be a horse used to handle cattle. The book is often boring and uninspiring. I kind of liked the ending--the only good part of the book.

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I didn't read a great many horse books as a child, but this was a favorite. I think my parents found it at a used book sale; I remember the cover, which had a similar illustration to the one pictured, but I think a black border. I'll be interested to reread it when I get back to 1927 in my project

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of reading all the Newbery Winners.

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A great book!

I was on a convention panel talking about horse books last weekend, and author Will James came up. I remembered that I owned a library discard of his classic book Smoky, that I probably haven't read since I was 9 or 10. Before I bought this discard copy, even. I needed to read a classic book for my

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goal this month, so I decided to read this one for the first time in decades.

Oooooh boy. How to sum this up.

First of all, there's no way this would be a kid book these days. All the major human characters are adults. There is rampant animal abuse, even by the 'good guy.' And wow, is this book racist. Jaw-droppingly so. The major villain is described as "being a breed of Mexican and other blood that's darker" and is often just named as "the breed," and is so abusive to the titular character that the horse straight-out tries to kill every man with dark skin for years afterward.

Yeah.

The thing is, the first 2/3 of the book is actually a decent horse book, complete with beautiful action-packed illustrations by the author. James is an incredibly descriptive writer, and the chapters on Smoky's colthood on the range and his training (which is cringe-worthy in some ways) and growing relationship with Clint is fascinating in its deep detail. But then Smoky is stolen, and the book decides to go "Black Beauty on a western-grimdark" route.

The good news is, I feel like I can now donate-away this hardcover book that I've been hauling around for over twenty years. I definitely won't be reading it again, now do I feel much inclined to pick up Will James's other books.

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It's Black Beauty, only not as well written. Happy colthood, humans train him to be useful and he bonds with one particular man. I was amused to note that in his first encounter with humans, he's branded and the book specifically says that's all that happens...but after that, "the colt" is referred

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to as "the gelding". Hmm. And then he's stolen, abused, trained to buck, stops being abused and eventually loses the hatred that made him such a good bucking horse. So he's sold, and sold, and sold, going lower each time, until he's half-starved and still being forced to pull a heavy wagon. And then he's saved - his one particular man discovers and rescues him. Yay. The ending was nice, Smoky doesn't suddenly become happy and healthy and regain his trust in humans - it takes a while. But eventually, a happy ending.
The story was trite. The dialect that was used throughout - not just speech (in fact that was often clearer) but description and narration - drove me nuts. I don't know if it's an accurate depiction of some dialect, but it utterly did not work for me. It reads awkwardly, sounding like a put-on accent, and...it just sounds unlikely, not like anything a real person would say (word choice (and spelling of same), phrases, everything read fake to me). It made it very hard to read the story - which wasn't worth the effort. Not a winner.

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