Wonder
Horse: The True Story of the World’s Smartest Horse
McCully,
Emily Arnold. New York: Henry, Holt and
Company, 2010. 9780805087932
Quantitative Reading Level: Reading Level 3.9, Lexile 690, Fountas and Pinnell P
Qualitative Reading Analysis:
I would rate
this as Middle Low on the “Text Complexity: Qualitative Measures Rubric for
Literary Text”. Although the text itself
is straightforward and has a single layer of meaning, because it is set in the
late 1860s and early 1870s readers would benefit from having some background
knowledge into that time period.
Summary:
Bill Key was
born a slave and always had a way with animals.
After the Civil War he became a veterinarian and tried to spread the
word that treating animals with kindness was better than cruelty. He once bought an Arabian mare named
Lauretta. Unfortunately, Lauretta died
while giving birth to a foal, Jim, who had twisted legs. Although others might have given up on Jim,
Bill did not. In fact, he taught Jim to
recognize letters, colors, and even do math.
People were astounded and some were skeptical. Bill travelled with Jim and used their show
to encourage people to be kind to animals.
Content Area: Reading/ELA
Content area standard:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.9
Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition
of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths,
and traditional literature from different cultures.
Curriculum Suggestions:
Children are
fascinated with amazing animal tricks or records. This book could be a mentor text that leads
to more research or just plain reading about amazing animals.
Children
could look at the author’s bibliography and find out more about this
horse.
They could also compare and
contrast the different texts about this horse.
Author’s
Website: http://www.emilyarnoldmccully.com/
Personal Thoughts: This was an interesting book. I had never heard of this horse before. I appreciate the author’s bibliography and
note which add to the credibility of the story.
Subjects/Themes: Power of Kindness
High Interest Annotation: Jim, the Wonder Horse could recognize letters, colors, and
even do math.
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