Elyne Mitchell’s The Silver Brumby is a wild horse story for 8 year olds about a cream-coloured colt born in a storm in the Australian mountains.<\/p>\n
Bel Bel is a cream mare, and on a black, stormy night she hides far from her herd to have her foal. He’s pale like her, maybe paler. She calls him Thowra, which means wind. She’s so proud of him, and she’s frightened for him too.<\/p>\n
Pale horses are hard to hide. Men want to catch them, and every stallion will be against Thowra because of his colour. So from his very first days he has to learn to be as fast as the wind.<\/p>\n
He grows up alongside Storm, a bay colt born in the same weather, and the two of them are best mates. Their mothers teach them the tracks of dingoes and wombats, where the snakes go, and never to step into open country without looking first.<\/p>\n
There’s a bully foal called Arrow who bites. And there’s The Brolga, a young grey stallion who’s strong enough to challenge the leader of the herd.<\/p>\n
The horses talk to each other, but this isn’t a cute animal story. It feels like being out in the high country with them. You get snow gums lashed by the wind, freezing creeks, and the smell of smoke that means men are close. The writing takes its time in places (it’s quite old-fashioned), so it suits a reader who’s happy to sink into a world rather than race through it.<\/p>\n
The fights are properly fierce, so it’s good to know what’s coming. Two stallions rear, bite and strike at each other in the half-dark, and one comes away with blood on his neck. Men hunt the herd with whips and dogs, and a man grabs at Thowra when he’s only a tiny foal. It isn’t gory, but fear runs all the way through it. A horse-lover who hates seeing animals frightened might find some of it hard going.<\/p>\n
If your reader loves horses and doesn’t mind a bit of danger, they’ll be galloping alongside Thowra and Storm (probably holding their breath at the crack of every whip).<\/p>\n
If they fall in love with these mountains, Silver Brumby Kingdom has more wild herds, new foals and moonlit snow gums from the same author.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Elyne Mitchell’s The Silver Brumby is a wild horse story for 8 year olds about a cream-coloured colt born in a storm in the Australian mountains. Bel Bel is a cream mare, and on a black, stormy night she hides far from her herd to have her foal. He’s pale like her, maybe paler. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12675,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":8624,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Silver Brumby Kingdom","lr_seo_hook":"Hunted for his pale coat, Thowra must learn to be as fast as the wind."},"book_tag":[18],"age_group":[26],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[299],"class_list":["post-9393","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-animal-books","age_group-books-for-8-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-elyne-mitchell"],"yoast_title":"The Silver Brumby by Elyne Mitchell | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Hunted for his pale coat, Thowra must learn to be as fast as the wind. For ages 8+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n