HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW
Book: Desert Storm: The Story of an Indian Boy and His Horse
Author: Logan Forster
Illustrator: Frank Hubbard
Publisher: A B Publishing, reprinted 2020
ISBN-13: 978-1122654456 Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1122654456 Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9781597651493 Paperback
ISBN-10: 1597651494 Paperback
Language level: 2
(1=nothing objectionable; 2=common euphemisms and/or childish slang terms; 3=some cursing and/or profanity; 4=a lot of cursing and/or profanity; 5=obscenity and/or vulgarity)
Recommended reading level: Ages 8-12
Rating: ***** 5 stars
(5 stars=EXCELLENT; 4 stars=GOOD; 3 stars=FAIR; 2 stars=POOR; 1 star=VERY POOR; no stars=NOT RECOMMENDED)
Category:
Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker
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Forster, Logan. Desert Storm: The Story of an Indian Boy and His Horse (Published in 1955 by Dodd, Mead; reprinted in 2020 by A B Publishing). Ponce, orphaned at age six and attending the agency school at San Carlos Indian Reservation until he was twelve, is a fifteen year old Apache boy who lives in a lean-to while working for the past two years on the sheep ranch of old Gabe Stuart, who is well into his sixties, near Tucson, AZ. The boy acquires a pure-bred two-year-old black racehorse filly with a broken leg when he rescues her from an accident after a flood. Ponce, who names the horse Desert Storm, takes on the seemingly impossible task of nursing the injured horse back to health and heals the filly Desert Storm’s broken leg. He then plans to train her to run in the Santa Anita Handicap.
The horse was born to run, but can Ponce be able to get her well enough to race? Will she even be allowed to run at Santa Anita? And what happens at the Santa Anita Handicap racetrack? Logan Forster wrote several novels for young people, including Proud Land. The mare Desert Storm was based on real life racehorse and broodmare Busher. There are a couple of common euphemisms (darnedest, golly) and some reference to smoking a pipe and a cigarette. But mostly, this is a plausible and sympathetic telling of a wonderful story that is dramatic yet not hackneyed. In later editions the subtitle has been changed to read, “The Story of a Native American Boy and His Horse.”
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