Books by Anna Sewell
“I find it odd that people don’t realise how revolutionary this book is…It was the first book that gave consciousness and personality to an animal, which is the horse, Black Beauty. It is narrated in the first person and is supposedly his autobiography. Black Beauty starts off life with a loving mother and great happiness and a good owner. Then he gets sold from one person to another and it is a terrible tragic story of the erosion of happiness and health, until finally, when broken-down and near death from ill-treatment, he is rescued. So it is a story of paradise lost, and regained.” Read more...
Amanda Craig, Journalist
Interviews where books by Anna Sewell were recommended
Classic Children’s Books
From the lessons in logic embedded in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to the lore that J.R.R. Tolkien tried to create in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, there is more to many iconic books than a good story for kids. Here’s our roundup of some of the children’s classics that have been recommended on Five Books over the years.
The best books on The Equestrian Life, recommended by Mary King
The world championship winning horse rider Mary King, who has represented Great Britain at six Olympics from 1992 to 2012, tells us what it takes to succeed in her sport
Audrey Penn recommends her Favourite Teenage Books
Children’s author Audrey Penn picks five books she loved as a teenager – all stories of struggle in the face of adversity.
Books that Changed the World, recommended by Amanda Craig
Jane Eyre, 1984 and Anne Frank’s diary all make it onto novelist Amanda Craig’s list of books that changed the world. On Black Beauty‘s underrated importance: ‘People forget that William Wilberforce, who abolished the slave trade, also founded the RSPCA.’
