Ladybird Classics: Black Beauty
This beautiful hardback Ladybird Classic edition of Black Beauty by Anna Sewell is a perfect first illustrated introduction to the classic horse story for younger readers.
It has been sensitively abridged and retold to make it suitable for sharing with young children from 5+, whilst retaining all the key parts of the story including Black Beauty's friendship with Ginger, his treatment at the hands of his owners, and fascinating historical detail about how how horses had many different uses in the days before cars.
Detailed full-colour illustrations throughout also help to bring this classic tale to life.
Other exciting titles in the Ladybird Classics series include Alice in Wonderland, Gulliver's Travels, The Secret Garden, Oliver Twist and Treasure Island.
Anna Sewell (1820-78) was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Black Beauty, her only book, was completed and published in 1877, just a few months before she died, so she did not live to know of the book's huge success. Apart from being a good story, Black Beauty was instrumental in changing people's attitudes towards horses, and domestic animals in general.