“Terrible things have happened,” eleven-year-old Harper, whispers to her rescue horse, Phoenix, wishing they could both stay brave.
After Harper, a loyal and spunky character who isn’t afraid to stand up for fairness, experiences a defining personal trauma, losing her family, home, school, and best friend, all at once (which she astutely calls the Bomb), she saves a starving horse from a kill truck and unknowingly begins on her path of self-discovery to a world she’d never dreamt of entering. Her love for Phoenix and her friendships with Knight, Emma, and Dante, plus her newfound sport of riding are the answers to a fulfilling new life.
Brubaker Bradley draws the perfect parallel between Harper and Phoenix, both who have felt discarded and abandoned with wounds that are in desperate need of healing. Phoenix shows the reader how horses can piece together broken hearts and soothe grieving souls, simply with their quiet presence.
The reader and writer in me loved spending time in Harper and Phoenix’s world, and I thought about the story long after I closed the book. I, like Harper, have struggled with how to reconcile my old life with my new, even though I’m approaching my sixth decade of life. Harper struggles with integrating her father and former best friend into her new life, one that the old Harper would have disdained. Why go back? Her old life was destroyed by the Bomb. Does she pick up the pieces that are left or leave them lying and walk on? It is that age-old question: how do you change in a way that’s genuine and best for your own life while still keeping the good things from the past?
The horse trainer in me appreciated the knowledgeable equine information Brubaker Bradley imparted, such as the importance of safety while opening gates and leading horses. She also took us through the point of view of what it’s like to take lessons, such as how to post the trot and ride with a group of people. She writes: ‘On Tuesday there was mass chaos during a riding lesson with older teens.’ Very relatable for anyone who has ever picked up a curry comb!
But ultimately, Phoenix is the story about loss and how a vulnerable girl and horse are able to understand one another. Spend a moment in an equine’s space and feel their warm, hay-scented breath on your neck. Look into their eyes and you’ll see their quiet dignity reflecting back at you. You’ll quickly discover what Harper learned.
I would put Phoenix in any young readers’ hands, horsey or not. Any horse crazy kid or child dealing with a family trauma will feel welcomed in and understood in the characters’ lives that Brubaker Bradley has created.
Phoenix deserves a place among classic horse books, The Black Stallion by Walter Farley; Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry; and Gypsy from Nowhere by Sharon Wagner. As a middle grader, I certainly would have shelved it alongside my Breyer model horses to be read over and over again. I look forward to book two of the Ride On series.
