Pam Munoz Ryan
Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 144
Reading Level: 8-12
Genre: Historical Fiction
Summary:
Charlotte was born and her family crashed in a buggie accident. She was sent to live in an orphanage in which she was the only girl and was used as a kitchen helper. She loved to work with the horses, she raced Freedom and beat all the other boys in the orphanage. Freedom was sick when she raced him and Charlotte didn't realize this until afterward when she took him back to the stables. That night Freedom died. Charlotte's best friend, Hayward, got adopted the next day and Charlotte was banned from the stables, so Charlotte decides to run away and dress like a boy. She got on the stage coach and fell asleep between two ladies who thought she was the sweetest boy they'd ever met. At the end of the line, Charlotte got a job in a stable as Charley. The owner of the stable was moving and could only take "Charley" if he could drive the stage coach, which Charlotte did. Charley was the most respected stage coach driver on the east coast, people would request him as their driver, not realizing he was a girl. Charlotte got an offer to go west and drive stage coaches out there, she went wanting to buy land and have her own horses. When she got out there, she was shoeing a wild hose when the horse kicked and blinded Charlotte in one eye. She was determined to drive coaches. She taught herself how to drive with limited vision so that she could continue to do what she loved to do. She was hired as a driver by her friends after she proved that she could drive. She voted (and was among the first women to do so, but she was still disguised as a man). She was finally able to afford a ranch and wrote a letter inviting Hayward to come join her and she also wrote a letter to her former employer (who knew by now that she was a girl) to invite him to come breed horses in the west. They both came and eventually Charlotte died, which is when everyone found out she was a woman.
Recommendations and Conflicts:
I would recommend this book to any and all readers of every age. The conflict I see in this book is the mistreatment of Charlotte when she was still in the orphanage, and her need to act and dress like a man her entire life.
Reactions:
I loved this book and Charlotte's determination to do what she wanted to do and to make it possible to get it done.
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