THE GEORGES AND THE JEWELS
Jane Smiley
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Fiction
ISBN: 9780375862274
240 pages

This wonderful novel takes place in the 1960s, when the main character, Abby Lovitt, is in the seventh grade. She lives with her strict but loving parents on their small California horse ranch. The family business consists of buying horses at low prices, getting them healthy and handsome, training them so well that they can claim “a little girl can ride him,” and then selling them for a profit. They never keep a horse longer than necessary, as it means money wasted on food. Abby’s father came up with a rule that they name all the male horses George and all the female horses Jewel, so as not to get attached to them. Abby isn’t thrilled with this, and sometimes secretly names the horses something special. 

Abby has been helping to train the horses for a long time, and even more so since her older brother, Danny, got kicked out of the house after a huge fight with their dad. She loves this responsibility, and is quite a talented rider and trainer. Rarely does she encounter a problem that she can’t handle --- until she meets Ornery George. Ornery George and Abby can’t seem to communicate, and most of the time he ends up bucking her off, despite her excellent riding skills. The only thing the two can agree on is that he will do what he wants and she will let him. She is so upset with him that she dares to stand up to her father and refuses to get on the horse.

But then one day an unusual stranger named Jem Jarrow stops by to look at Ornery George. He begins teaching Abby another way to communicate with horses, a method that Ornery George understands. This new communication even opens up new possibilities between Abby and her father.

THE GEORGES AND THE JEWELS is Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley’s first novel for young readers. Here, she combines her vast writing talents with her massive love of horses, resulting in an incredible reading experience. The story leaps out of the starting gate with the first sentence (“Sometimes when you fall off your horse, you just don’t want to get back on.”), immediately capturing the attentions of any horse-crazed fan. Both experienced horse people and those who are new to the world of horses will find the pages filled with gripping information all woven into a moving story that tugs at the heart. Smiley also does a winning job of writing about relationships, and she explores many different ones, including those between a teen and her parents, a teen and her peers, a girl and her horse, and even horses in a herd.

This is an outstanding story, highly recommended for any horse lover (and even those not so crazy about horses). I can’t wait for the sequel, which is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2010; it won’t be available fast enough!

   --- Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman, author of FINDING MY LIGHT

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