The Night Ride

September 15, 2021
A stable girl rides in illegal races so she can buy the horse of her dreams. Sonnia would rather lead pony rides than attend school, and she lives for the afternoons when she's allowed to groom and exercise Ricochet, one of the messenger horses in the fictional, quasi-medieval kingdom of Mael Dunn. Though her family is poor, with nearly no hope of advancement, Sonnia is saving her coppers to someday buy him. When Ricochet is sent to the king's stables to be a companion for the high-strung racehorse Perihelion, Sonnia tags along and discovers that Deirdre, her childhood babysitter, is now a jockey there. Deirdre isn't as friendly as Sonnia remembers, but she arranges for Sonnia to be taken on as a stable hand, which Sonnia soon learns is a cover for the young people riding in the dangerous and illegal Night Rides. Though she assumes her new companions are wealthy, she soon discovers they're from desperate backgrounds like herself, in need of the money the purses provide. Sonnia is an engaging character with grit and determination, dreaming of the impossible while trying to survive in a hardscrabble world. The politics of the racecourse and the kingdom are confusing, however, and in the end, problems are solved externally in a way young readers may find disappointing. Most characters default to White. Engaging, true-to-life horse content will satisfy many. (Fiction. 8-12)

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October 11, 2021
In the loosely medieval kingdom of Mael Dunn, the royal horses are cared for by men and boys “from families who have been taking care of for generations.” Though her brother lucked into a position at the royal stables, Sonnia, both a poor “lane kid” and a girl, has little hope of a future involving the animals. She nevertheless saves all her money to one day buy her favorite horse, Ricochet, and spends her afternoons grooming and riding him. When she learns that Ricochet will be relocated to the racetrack across town, she follows, and a chance encounter lands Sonnia a job as a racetrack stablehand. Sonnia adores working with the horses, and the job seems to pay well, but she’s horrified to discover that the other stablehands compete for large sums in a dangerous and illegal nighttime race—a Night Ride that she reluctantly enters, intent on helping her parents and saving to buy Ricochet. Though the kingdom’s class structure and the titular event’s gambling particulars are left mostly undeveloped, Coats’s (The Green Children of Woolpit) fast-paced tale with a largely default-white cast absorbs with meticulously observed horsey details and a tender interspecies relationship. Ages 8–12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary.

January 1, 2022
When eleven-year-old Frenchie Livernois, who is nonvocal and neuroatypical, goes missing in the Maine woods, Aurora Petrequin blames herself. Frenchie has been her best (and only) friend since third grade; now in sixth grade, Aurora (who has sensory and behavioral differences herself -- "All my ideas were the loud kind. Hard to keep inside") still takes seriously her self-appointed responsibility to look out for him. In this nuanced novel, Connor gives readers an authentic friendship between two neurodivergent kids, each of whom has a deep appreciation of the natural world. Through Aurora, we see Frenchie's humanity; in turn, Aurora's patience, perceptiveness, and empathy shine -- traits that few of her peers bother to notice. While the bulk of the narrative centers on the painstaking and nerve-wracking search for Frenchie, Connor weaves experiences from the friends' recent past into the present drama, adding complexity to the story and characters. Aurora's assured first-person voice is funny, heartwarming, and keenly observant ("My hair is doing that thing where it flattens onto my face. Clinging. Like scared hair"). Intermittent chapters are narrated in the third person from the perspective of a few key characters, which heightens the tension and moves the finely crafted plot forward to a well-earned happy resolution. Kitty Flynn

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