Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com
Dream of Night was a thoroughbred horse with memories of his racing days in his head. He hates man because all man has done to him has been neglect him, starve him, and beat him with the chains.
Shiloh has been bounced from one foster family to another. She's at her last stop before the locked doors of the reformatory.
Jessalynn lives simply, rescuing horses and living on her old farm. She has taken in foster children in the past, but she's getting too old and has agreed to take just this one last case.
When Shiloh arrives, Jessalynn knows that there are secrets and horrors in the child's past and she will need to take it slow. Shiloh is full of anger and does everything she can to get Jessalynn to react. But nothing Shiloh does seems to get a rise out of the old woman.
Jessalynn hopes that by going slowly, she can draw Shiloh out. But it turns out that the wild black horse in the field is what finally gets to Shiloh. Dream of Night doesn't attack when Shiloh ventures to his fence. And, slowly, the two of them form a bond, learning to trust again.
What a wonderful novel! Told in alternating voices with Jessalynn, Shiloh, and Dream, the reader experiences what each of the characters are encountering. I loved getting to look inside Dream's thoughts; I could imagine the horse thinking exactly those things. Shiloh is portrayed as any troubled teenager would be...cautious, caustic, and distrusting. But it's Jessalynn's simple, relaxed manner that brings the entire story together.
Dream of Night was a thoroughbred horse with memories of his racing days in his head. He hates man because all man has done to him has been neglect him, starve him, and beat him with the chains.
Shiloh has been bounced from one foster family to another. She's at her last stop before the locked doors of the reformatory.
Jessalynn lives simply, rescuing horses and living on her old farm. She has taken in foster children in the past, but she's getting too old and has agreed to take just this one last case.
When Shiloh arrives, Jessalynn knows that there are secrets and horrors in the child's past and she will need to take it slow. Shiloh is full of anger and does everything she can to get Jessalynn to react. But nothing Shiloh does seems to get a rise out of the old woman.
Jessalynn hopes that by going slowly, she can draw Shiloh out. But it turns out that the wild black horse in the field is what finally gets to Shiloh. Dream of Night doesn't attack when Shiloh ventures to his fence. And, slowly, the two of them form a bond, learning to trust again.
What a wonderful novel! Told in alternating voices with Jessalynn, Shiloh, and Dream, the reader experiences what each of the characters are encountering. I loved getting to look inside Dream's thoughts; I could imagine the horse thinking exactly those things. Shiloh is portrayed as any troubled teenager would be...cautious, caustic, and distrusting. But it's Jessalynn's simple, relaxed manner that brings the entire story together.
This is a Scholastic Press paperback that I originally picked up thinking it might be something like Margurite Henry's Misty of Chincoteaque or a short Black Beauty written for younger children.
Nope. Not until the kids are at least tween-agers.
DREAM OF NIGHT was heartbreaking-- about an abused ex-racehorse and an abused child.
But at least for those two lost souls, there was a gleam of hope; a lady who didn't have much herself shared what she had with them.
Book blurb: Once full of promise and life, now lost in the shadows of abuse. This is Dream of Nights storyand it is also Shilohs. One is a Thoroughbred racehorse, the other a twelve-year-old foster child. By chance they both find themselves under the care of Jessalyn DiLimaa final stop for each before the state takes more drastic measures. If this doesnt work out, the girl will be sent to a residential facility and the horse to a vet . . . for euthanizing. This is their last chance, so why are they both so resistant? And why cant they see that Jessies life is not as easy as it seems? She fosters animals and children like them for a reasonshes a little broken too. And, like Shiloh and Dream of Night, Jessie knows what it means to have lost nearly everything you love. A story of hope and healing, Dream of Night reminds us all that the most important bonds in life are never forged by force, and that the darkness of night will eventually give way to dawn.
Nope. Not until the kids are at least tween-agers.
DREAM OF NIGHT was heartbreaking-- about an abused ex-racehorse and an abused child.
But at least for those two lost souls, there was a gleam of hope; a lady who didn't have much herself shared what she had with them.
Book blurb: Once full of promise and life, now lost in the shadows of abuse. This is Dream of Nights storyand it is also Shilohs. One is a Thoroughbred racehorse, the other a twelve-year-old foster child. By chance they both find themselves under the care of Jessalyn DiLimaa final stop for each before the state takes more drastic measures. If this doesnt work out, the girl will be sent to a residential facility and the horse to a vet . . . for euthanizing. This is their last chance, so why are they both so resistant? And why cant they see that Jessies life is not as easy as it seems? She fosters animals and children like them for a reasonshes a little broken too. And, like Shiloh and Dream of Night, Jessie knows what it means to have lost nearly everything you love. A story of hope and healing, Dream of Night reminds us all that the most important bonds in life are never forged by force, and that the darkness of night will eventually give way to dawn.
