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    Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley
    Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley
    Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley
    Ebook84 pages40 minutes

    Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley

    By Marguerite Henry and Bonnie Shields

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    One of the most beloved of all children’s book writers tells the story of a seemingly worn-out mare, owned by Molly’s family, who is carrying a secret: a baby mule! Young Molly thinks the new creature is the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. She calls him Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley, and as the years go by, Molly discovers that, just like his mother, her mule is full of wonderful surprises.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAladdin
    Release dateDec 18, 2012
    ISBN9781442488090
    Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley
    Author

    Marguerite Henry

    Marguerite Henry (1902–1997) was the beloved author of such classic horse stories as King of the Wind, Misty of Chincoteague, and Stormy, Misty’s Foal, and her work has won several Newbery Awards and Honors. 

    Read more from Marguerite Henry

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    Reviews for Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley

    3.5/5

    42 ratings5 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Cute pony story told partly through diary entries, partly in third person.
    • 5/5
      Was a very good book to read. Love horses so I really enjoyed this book.
    • 5/5
      Short and sweet story that my young children connected with, especially my 7 year old daughter.
    • 3/5
      I liked this book for a couple different reasons. The first is because of the story's plot. The little girl wants a horse for her birthday and is beyond excited when her day finally arrives. She goes to an auction with her dad and awaits for the perfect horse to come around. When her father finally bids and wins a horse Molly is not too happy about the mare he chose. She is a run down mare named Lady. He tells Molly that they can work their magic and fix her right up. Later in the story, Lady has a baby, and the baby is a mule. Throughout the story, Molly finds out that, just like his mother, Brown Sunshine has surprises in store. Another thing I liked about this book was that even though it is a chapter book, it still has a few small pictures. The pictures come at crucial times in the story to help describe the way something looks. For example, there is a small picture to show the worn out face of Lady when they first purchase her at the auction. I think the main idea of this story is not to judge a book by its cover. Molly did not want Lady because she looked old and worn out. Little did she know that Brown Sunshine would be born a little while later. She ended up enjoying the company of Lady and then getting another pet too!
    • 3/5
      A story of a girl’s dream of a horse and how the mule she receives brings her, her family, and a boy closer together.

    Book preview

    Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley - Marguerite Henry

    title

    CONTENTS

    CHAPTER 1

    ALL I WANT TO DO IS RIDE

    CHAPTER 2

    MY TENTH BIRTHDAY

    CHAPTER 3

    HORSE SALE—LOWER BARN

    CHAPTER 4

    NUMBER THIRTEEN

    CHAPTER 5

    I’M HERE NOW

    CHAPTER 6

    I RIDE HER EASY

    CHAPTER 7

    NO TIME TO LOSE

    CHAPTER 8

    GOLDEN IN THE SUNLIGHT

    CHAPTER 9

    LATE AFTERNOON OF THE NEWBORN

    CHAPTER 10

    THE LONER DOWN THE HILL

    CHAPTER 11

    KEEP YOUR TRACES TIGHT!

    CHAPTER 12

    IT’S NOT HOW LONG THE EARS ARE . . .

    CHAPTER 13

    ROYAL GIFT

    CHAPTER 14

    BROWN SUNSHINE GROWS

    CHAPTER 15

    THE TALE OF BROWN SUNSHINE’S TAIL

    CHAPTER 16

    THE COMMITTEE ARRIVES

    CHAPTER 17

    PREPARATIONS

    CHAPTER 18

    SPRING SHOW MULE CLIP

    CHAPTER 19

    MULE DAY

    CHAPTER 20

    THE KING

    CHAPTER 21

    HOME

    To Susan Ambrose–

    May this book be a reminder to you of the gifts you are giving the world.

    M. H.

    diagram

    CHAPTER 1

    ALL I WANT TO DO IS RIDE

    September 1

    Dear Diary,

    I get a sick feeling whenever I look at a person riding a horse and acting so smug and happy at being up there. I just want to crawl under a rock and cry.

    That’s why I detest Freddy Westover. Besides owning show horses, he’s the fastest forward and the highest scorer on our soccer team. And in school parades he gets to lead the band. But worst of all, he wins the blue ribbons at the horse shows on a big Tennessee walking horse named Strolling Joe.

    diagram

    Me? In soccer they call me P.F., for personal fouls, because I forget to trap or kick the ball. I use my hands instead, so the other team is always getting free kicks. And the only time I get to ride a horse is when Freddy lets me—but it’s never on Strolling Joe. It’s always on his old mare, Della, who can hardly move because of arthritis.

    And he acts like a king granting a favor to his lowest subject. Molly, he says, "you can ride once around the field on Della. Then you can muck out her stall and clean Joe’s tack."

    Funny thing is, I do exactly what Freddy says, because I just want to ride. It’s all I ever think about. Even now when I’m writing in my diary I get all choked up, like I have an allergy or something.

    The only good thing about Freddy is his big blue weimaraner dog, Smokestack. He spends more time with me than he does with Freddy, and I think that makes Freddy mad.

    One good person in my life is our librarian, Elizabeth Potts. She puts aside horse books for me. I read two a week, even though they’re mostly about horse-sick kids who always get a horse at the end of the story. Not like me! And here I live in Tennessee—practically the horse capital of the whole world.

    I can’t talk to my parents. They have enough to worry about. I hear them talking serious at night about making ends meet and wishing they could buy me this or that. But they never mention a horse.

    diagram

    Mom just put on her new CD of Lights Out. Guess whenever I hear it, I’ll fall right asleep wherever I am.

    *   *   *

    With a tiny brass key, Molly locked her diary, tucked it under her pillow, and curled up in bed. But she didn’t fall right asleep. She pretended she was a famous author and had just sold a book to the movies for a million dollars. Without a second thought, she knew what to do with the money. She’d buy

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