Dream Of Night

By: Heather Henson

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Hardcover | 4 May 2010

At a Glance

Hardcover
224 Pages

Age
8 - 12

Grade
3 - 7

Dimensions(cm)
20.96 x 13.97 x 2.03

Hardcover

$38.25

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An abused horse. A damaged girl. A last chance for both...

Untamable. Damaged. Angry. Once full of promise and life, now lost in the shadows of resentment and detachment, this is Dream of Night's story-and it is also Shiloh's. One is a thoroughbred racehorse, the other an eleven year-old foster child. Starved to the bone, Dream of Night is still a very powerful animal, kicking, bucking, screaming to show his strength. Shiloh has been starved in other ways-starved of affection, starved of stability and she lashes out too... with sarcasm. This injured and abused racehorse has a lot in common with punky Shiloh and by chance they both find themselves under the care of Jessalyn DiLima-a last stop for each before the state takes more drastic measures-sending the girl to a 'residential facility' and the horse to a vet ... for euthanizing.

Jess is giving them a second chance, a last chance-but she fosters animals and children like this for a reason-she's a little broken, too. And, she knows what it's like to have lost nearly everything she loves. As the horse warms up to the girl and the girl lets her guard down for the horse, the three of them become an unlikely family. They recognize their similarities in order to heal their pasts, but not before one last tragedy threatens to take it all away.

Author Biography

Heather Henson grew up in Kentucky and recently returned to her home state after spending many years in Brooklyn, New York, where she worked as an editor of children's books and a freelance writer. She now lives on a farm with her husband, Tim and three children, and is the author of several picture books and novels, including That Book Woman.

Industry Reviews

Three lives and three story lines merge as readers get to know a former racehorse, a 12-year-old girl, and a middle-aged woman. Dream of Night was a successful Thoroughbred until an undetected injury led, over time, to horrific abuse and neglect. Shiloh and her mom suffered unspeakable domestic violence, landing Shiloh in increasingly ineffective foster homes. Jess has spent years working with rescued horses and foster kids, but thinks that perhaps she is too old now for either one. Night and Shiloh both end up at Jess’s farm and are needy, angry, and incapable of trust. Eventually, cracks begin to appear in the walls that the two have erected, and a crisis cements their bond. Within each chapter, the third-person narration switches from character to character, with each portion labeled. The brief sections use few words to maximum potential, developing each character and focusing on believable behaviors. While accepting Night’s line of thought occasionally requires a leap of faith, this is a touching read with a satisfying ending. Recommend it to kids who have heard about Dave Pelzer’s A Child Called “It” (Health Communications, 1995) and to animal lovers or girls who read reluctantly.–SLJ, April 1, 2010

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