Mustang Moon (Phantom Stallion #2)

During the school year, I talk to dozens of chidlren a day about what they want to read in exquisite detail. What topics? What kind of characters? Happy or sad? Modern or historical? How many pages? What size font? Then I try to read ALL THE BOOKS. This year, in particular, I have  noticed that there is a huge discrepancy between what my students ask for and what is actually published. Sometimes publishers get it right-- Scholastic's publication of many K.R. Alexander horror books has been perfect, and I've bought three copies of each title. Certainly, graphic novels about anything are popular. Any book about sports is immediately popular. But all of the dead parents and the children processing their grief? My students won't even take an ARC they can keep forever. The multiple retellings of The Secret Garden? I've actually gotten eye rolls describing these to students. 

Sometimes, my students have very specific requests, which I love. I had several sixth grade girls who take riding lessons and wanted more books about horses. This is a long standing area of mild interest, and I try to buy a few equestrian related books every year. My current readers, however, want books about WESTERN style riding. These are harder to find, and one of my readers was so excited to see this reboot of Farley's Phantom Stallion series that she actually bought the first book. 

It's nice when what is published aligns with what I need to purchase for my students. Also on the bright side; even though my budget was cut a lot because our district opened a new school and our enrollment dropped, I'll still be okay because there have been so few books that I've wanted to buy this year!

Farley, Terri. Mustang Moon (Phantom Stallion #2) 

July 4, 2023 by Aladdin

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

After raising Blackie from a foal, Sam fell from him, was badly injured, and had to spend two years in San Francisco with an aunt. Now recovered, she is back at the River Bend Ranch in rural Nevada, ready to start high school. She's still friends with Jake, who is a talented horseman, but doesn't know anyone else at school except for the super smart Jen, who had previously been homeschooled. There's another problem; Blackie is most likely wild now, and known locally as The Phantom. Local wealthy ranch owner Slocum had wanted the Bureau of Land Management to let him adopt the horse, but they wouldn't let him. Sam sees a horse out and about at night, but it doesn't seem to be The Phantom, whom she also calls Zanzibar. This other horse seems to be taking mares from local farms, including Slocum's, which angers him and makes him suspect that Sam is somehow behind this. His daughter, cheerleader Rachel, is running for class president and also seems to bear a grudge against Sam. When Sam tries to get in the running for the school newspaper and attempts to take photos with a borrowed school camera, Rachel purposefully damages the camera, which Sam then might have to pay for. Luckily, Jake's mother is also a teacher at the high school and sees Rachel in action. Since she is also a photographer, Sam is able to borrow a camera from her, and manages to get a picture of the horse who is stealing mares. Will this photo be enough to help the BLM find the rogue horse, and will Slocum fulfill his promise of a cash reward to whoever helps solve the mystery of his missing mares? 

Strengths: This was like reading a football book; I take it as a good sign that there were some horse things that I didn't understand! This definitely had the much needed Western setting that my students have been requesting, and a lot of intrigue as well as details about ranch life. There is a bit about high school that is great, since it gives it an upper middle grade feel, but would also be fine for actual high school students. I haven't read the first book in the series, so was confused about a few things. 
Weaknesses: This series was first published 20 years ago, and there are a few things that feel dated, like Sam's concern about her clothing and hair for high school. The subplot with the camera also doesn't feel quite right, since most students probably shoot photos for the school web site with their phones. It's not a deal breaker, but if the rest of the series is going to be reissued, more attention should be paid to updating things like this. 
What I really think: These books will be an excellent addition to my equestrian collection, but I don't know that I will be able to buy all 24 titles. I'll have to see how many are reissued and what the readership is before deciding how many to purchase, especially since both the local library and the Ohio Digital library have these in their collection. 

Farley, Terri. The Wild One (Phantom Stallion #1) 

March 21, 2023 by Aladdin

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Copy loaned to me by a student I'm so glad to see that this series is being reissued, especially since the student who loaned me this book wants tales about Western riding rather than English riding. There's a lot of adventure in the US West that is very intriguing, and Sam is a great character who is dealing with some issues beyond the horse related ones. Not too many issues; the horses certainly come first, and there isn't much romance, which my student didn't want.

I do sort of wish they had made a few tweaks in the text; this was written in 2002. While I noticed things like watching movies in theaters, wearing a bathrobe, and writing on purple stationery (all things few young people would do now), my student only noticed that there were some things she didn't quite understand, so it's not all that critical.

I did have some questions about the wisdom of going on a ten day riding excursion after being away from horses for two years, but I can't argue with the descriptions of the landscape of the West, and the allure of the wild horses!