Born That Way, a Horse Book Review for NWHS Reader Friday

Review by Deb Taber, NWHS editor

In place of a readers’ story today, I’m offering a story of my own...or, rather, a look at someone else's story.

As the editor of NWHS, I receive several books each week to review. Part of my job is to decide which of those books will be most applicable and interesting to our readers. Through surveys and interactions, I’ve learned that the majority of you are interested in nonfiction books: the how-to’s of training, riding, health care and general horsekeeping.

Sometimes, however, a book outside of those categories deserves mention. I love young adult fiction in general, and horse fiction in particular. It’s what I grew up on back when I was determined to have a horse of my own, but I lived in the suburbs with two working parents, not a lot of spare cash, and the impression that owning real live horses at that point in my life was just not going to be possible.

Born That Way by Susan Ketchen is the story of just such a girl, but there’s so much more to it than that. Sylvia isn’t just your average horse-crazy teen girl. She has problems that are larger than the standard call-and-response of “Can I have a pony?” “No.”

Born That Way

by Susan Ketchen

Sylvia is tiny for her age, more like an eight-year-old than the fourteen years she’s known. She’s interested in lucid dreaming—the only way she has to experience horsemanship—and busy battling the misguided intentions of her psychologist mother (who puts an embarrassingly Freudian spin on her horse-ownership desires) and a father who wants to believe that she’s just a “normal girl.”

The best books targeted at adolescents don’t just offer escape from the pressures of changing bodies and a changing world; they offer an education on topics that young people are too shy or uncomfortable to broach. That is exactly what Born that Way does. Sylvia’s growth – or lack thereof – combined with her mother’s Fruedian leanings leads her on a journey of self exploration that includes sexuality (an escapade with barnacles makes her wonder if she might somehow be a hermaphrodite), individuality, honesty, promise-keeping, and more.

Although I understand that some parents may be uncomfortable with some of the content in the book, I think that is its inherent strength. It deals with topics that are sensitive to both the child and the parent, and offers a place from which open discussion and learning – on both sides – can occur. The overall message is that you don’s solve problems by ignoring them, and the family relationships help to underscore that an open mind and understanding are essential on everyone’s part.

Born that Way by Susan Ketchen is available from Oolichan press, www.oolichan.com

ISBN 978-088982-254-2 • pb • 192 pp • $12.95 • Ages 12 to 15

Also available through amazon.com.