Book Descriptions
for King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry and Wesley Dennis
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
A beautifully produced new edition of a Newbery Award-winning novel begins with a horse race featuring Man o’ War in Windsor, Ontario, and then goes back in fictional time to an earlier story about the great horse’s beginnings. Readers meet a Moroccan horse boy, Agba, during the sacred month of Ramadan. Agba works in the Sultan’s stables. It’s Agba’s commitment to Sham, the Arabian horse for which he’s given responsibility, and the way in which Henry has unfolded the story about the boy and the stallion, that command attention in this swiftly moving story. Agba and Sham persevere in France and England through one travail after another. The foreword by Joseph D. Landes, Jr., the Rand McNally publisher of this book and Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague, contains some of his memories of the author. Henry’s amazing source notes at the end of the novel are reproduced as part of the “as is” reprinting of the novel within this volume. New material at the end includes several photographs and two paintings by Wesley Dennis reproduced in full color. Two pages from the manuscript materials for this book are reproduced; one is from the handwritten manuscript notes for chapter four, and the other is a typed manuscript page with revisions and evident taping. (Ages 9–12)
CCBC Choices 2002 . © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2002. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
He was named 'Sham' for the sun, this golden red stallion born in the Sultan of Morocco's stone stables. Upon his heel was a small white spot, the symbol of speed. But on his chest was the symbol of misfortune. Although he was as swift as the desert winds, Sham's proud pedigree would be scorned all his life by cruel masters and owners. This is the classic story of Sham and his friend, the stable boy Agba. Their adventures take them from the sands of the Sahara to the royal courts of France and, finally, to the green passtures and stately homes of England. For Sham was the renowned 'Godolphin Arabian' whose blood flows through the veins of almost every superior Thoroughbred. Sham's speed, like his story, has become legendary.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.