Horse Diaries #2: Bell's Star

*spoilers*

I think this is my favorite Horse Diaries book so far. Bell's Star is a Morgan horse who learns about hard work on his owner's farm, as he pulls carriages and plows and wagons, helping Papa do field work all day. He cherishes the moments when he can ride free with Katie, the little girl

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who loves him. One day Katie and Star are at the river and end up rescuing a little girl from drowning. The girl, Eliza, is a runaway slave. Katie promises to help her escape to Canada and be reunited with her mother, but she has to hide Eliza from her Papa and the slave catchers who come sniffing around. I love the urgency in this book, as Star leads the slave hunters on a wild chase to distract them while Katie and Eliza run. And then Star takes Eliza, as fast as he can, to Canada. She reunites with her mother, and finally Star sees what freedom really is. He thought that maybe Canada held "freedom" for him as well, but in the end he realizes that he wants to be back with Katie. I love that Katie helped Eliza escape, and I love that Star improvised so quickly to lead the slave catcher's off her trail. I may have cried a bit when Eliza was reunited with her mother.

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