Horse of Seven Moons

by Karen Taschek

Book Overview

Struggling up the mountainside in a fierce storm, sixteen-year-old Bin-daa-dee-nin tries to survive. The Mescalero Apache has lived off the land in southwestern New Mexico, hunting and raiding since the death of Apache leader Victorio last October 1880.

Just before dawn, under a full moon, Bin-daa-dee-nin finds a black-and-white horse whose intelligence and beauty surpass that of any horse he's ever seen. Bin-daa-dee-nin trains the surefooted...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826332153
• ISBN13: 9780826332158
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 13 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 12

Customer Reviews

Excellent historical fiction

The paths of a Mescalero Apache boy and an Anglo settler girl cross in New Mexico territory in 1881 when both lay claim to a beautiful black-and-white horse. This horse story, survival story, and early-day settler story is historically and geographically accurate. The contrast in points of view of the boy and the girl makes this novel above average. Representation of the American Indian boys as realistic characters with differing personalities and varying reactions to their miserable treatment on the reservation is outstanding. Recommended for readers of all ages.

Two on a Horse: An Interesting Game

Bin-daa-dee-nin and You-his-kishn carry their badly wounded brother, Nzhu-'a'c-siin, into a cave. For the moment, they can breathe. But tomorrow, what can they do? Return to the Mescalero Apache reservation from which they've run to escape the filth, disease, and starvation that killed their father and mother? No! They'll remain in the mountains, raiding ranches, until they escape to Mexico, or die at the hands of the white soldiers. Bin-daa-dee-nin prays to the Mountain Gods for help. A beautiful--and completely tame--pinto horse appears. The boy can ride it instantly. Surely this is the answer to his prayer. Now he can hunt. He and his brothers might just survive. But, the army comes. The Apaches flee one way, and the horse runs another. Rancher's daughter, Sarah Chilton, finds it. It becomes hers, until the terrifying night the Apaches come raiding. A boy about her age snatches the horse out of her father's corral. From this beginning, Albuquerque author Karen Taschek's youth novel, HORSE OF SEVEN MOONS, turns into a frightening turn-of-the 20th Century cat-and-mouse game between two cultures trying to survive in southern New Mexico. Bringing their opposing lives and values together through the horse--Moon Dancer to Sarah, and Moon that Flies to Bin-daa-dee-nin--Taschek presents the plight of the Apaches fighting to stay free in their home lands, and the anguish of the settlers struggling to protect ranches they have built. She shows the conflict in realistic fashion, using language that is simple and direct, but never simplistic. Neither settlers nor Apaches like each other, and neither considers how the other might feel. Yet, the reader sympathizes with both by the end of HORSE OF SEVEN MOONS. The fate of Bin-daa-dee-nin, Sarah, and Moon-that-Flies/Moon Dancer leaves happiness, pain, and a touch of sadness--as life can do. Both adults and young people will enjoy HORSE OF SEVEN MOONS.