Whisper of Horses

by Zillah Bethell (Author)

Whisper of Horses
Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

A futuristic adventure fantasy in which an orphaned girl is on a quest to find the last horses on Earth Serendipity lives inside a walled city.

Before her mother died, she gave Seren an old figurine of a horse. Horses no longer exist in Serendipity's world, but when she discovers a map that may lead her to real horses, she starts on a journey that will take her far from everything she knows. Traveling with an orphan boy, Tab, and his beloved dog, she's soon on the run from a powerful and dangerous man who will do anything to make sure Serendipity never leaves the walled city again. Zillah Bethell's middle-grade fiction debut A Whisper of Horses is original, breathtaking, adventurous, and moving.

With elements of both science fiction and realism, it is a story of friendship, perseverance, and resilience that readers won't soon forget. 

Select format:
Paperback
$7.99

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8-Serendipity lives in a dystopian walled city, Lahn Dan (formerly London), where only three classes exist: the Pbs (lead), Cus (silver), and Aus (gold). Having just lost her mother, Serendipity jumps at the chance to work with Professor Nimbus as a Cus storyteller. But things take a strange turn when she meets Miss Caritas, who helps Serendipity open the locket from her mother. Inside the locket she discovers a map that leads outside the wall around the city and purports to show where horses can be found. Serendipity is skeptical, as she has been told her entire life that horses, as well as the whole world outside the wall, were destroyed by deadly gases. But she does not want to spend her life as a Pbs, or even a Cus. She soon meets Tab and his dog, Mouse. Everything changes once Serendipity and Tab get outside the city, and she struggles to make sense of it all while searching for the horses and trying to avoid the Minister's men who seek to return her to Lahn Dan. The awkward dialect and wording that Serendipity uses to tell her story take some getting used to (words such as amazering, for example), but this makes for a slightly dark tale that's appropriate for middle grade readers. VERDICT A general purchase where middle grade dystopias are in demand.

 Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

ALA/Booklist

When Serendipity's mother dies, she leaves Serendipity a figurine of a horse, an animal that has long been extinct in the world. Soon, she learns more about her mother's history and discovers a map that might lead to horses. . . . This debut offers up a solid dose of middle-grade adventure.

Review quotes

"Bethell turns all the old formulas on their head. . . . As with all good fantasy, there is a strong requisite of reality. . . the narrative is driven by the skillfully articulated sentiments of a horse-obsessed girl."  —The Telegraph (U.K.)

Zillah Bethell
Zillah Bethell was born in a leprosy hospital in Papua New Guinea, spent her childhood barefoot playing in the jungle, and didn't own a pair of shoes until she came to the United Kingdom when she was eight years old. She was educated at Oxford University and lives in Wales with her family. A Whisper of Horses is her first children's book.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781250093967
Lexile Measure
650
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Square Fish
Publication date
July 03, 2018
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV037000 - Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
JUV002130 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Horses
JUV059000 - Juvenile Fiction | Dystopian
Library of Congress categories
Great Britain
Adventure and adventurers
Voyages and travels
Science fiction
Horses
JUVENILE FICTION / Fantasy & Magic

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