The Little White Horse Paperback – December 31, 2001

Bought for a friend as I didn't want to risk losing my 30 year old copy. A sweet "cozy" story.

I just had to have this book!! I read it when quite young..........over-and-over again........so much so that the library lady knew me by name! Perhaps I should have bought a copy earlier and indeed I have been looking for one ever since, but was told that it was out of print and therefore unavailable. Until somebody suggested Amazon!'The Little White Horse' influenced my formative years - the story is lovely for a child, a bit of adversity, escapism, support and secrets, danger and fun...........beautifully written............and reading it again now, after certainly 40 years, has been wonderful. The magic is still there, the morals perhaps more evident as an adult, and it is very much a forerunner of the Narnia novels...........indeed, which came first - I must google! I thoroughly believe that reading this when young helped to make me the person I am, in a very gentle way looking at problems around as opposed to being selfish and being able to cope with and enjoy the peculiarities of others you meet. Having said this, I'm going to get another copy which I can lend to friends and families.............I'm not going to be without again!!!! Enjoy...........!

What a wonderful story! I saw this book on the the "Customers Also Viewed" scroll, and was curious after reading JK Rowling's comment that this book was one of her favorites, I really wanted to read this book. I have to say that her comment calling this book "scary and romantic in parts and had a feisty heroine" was spot on. It wasn't until I received the book that I realized it was a tale from around 80 years ago, but a tale so charming that it would be very popular today as well.Though the setting and language is a bit old fashioned, it wasn't difficult to lose myself in the story. The author created a setting so incredibly detailed that it leaves the reader with a definite pang of regret that the story is fiction and not someplace someone could actually visit. While there are supernatural elements included, they are no so farfetched that a reader would have to suspend belief in order to finish the story. Included with the supernatural aspect is a bit of religion, but like the supernatural it isn't so heavily written that the writer alienates anyone reading this book. Everything is so perfectly woven together that the story would have felt like something was missing if the author hadn't included parts from each.The final outcome is full of twists and connections that most readers will be enjoyably surprised to not have figured out on their own. The end of the book wrapped things up nicely, but I did find myself wishing that this could have been an ongoing series like "Anne of Green Gables." I would have loved to have read more of the adventures of Maria and Robin and the rest of the characters in the story.

I never encountered this book as a child (though I would have loved it then) or when my daughter was young (though she would have loved it too), so I just read it for first time. I thought the beginning was sophisticated and promising. What robust and quirky characters, and what a well-described and marvelous setting this book has!Somewhere in the middle of the story, though, the author seemed to lose her nerve. The wit and satirical edge softened in a haze of vaguely Anglican sentimentality. In particular, I was greatly disappointed by the development of Robin, who was introduced as a magical Robin Goodfellow (Puck) figure but declined into just another bratty kid.All of the magical elements seemed curiously muted by the end of the book, as if the author had a long conversation with her pastor and decided that her imagination was just not suitable for an English gentlewoman. I wonder what she originally had in mind! The lion and the unicorn are the classic English heraldic figures, and Robin is the English nature spirit. By perfecting Moonacre, is Maria ensuring the continuation of English-ness? Given that the book was first published right after World War II, it was probably written during the war, so I think this was probably the case. Goudge was certainly celebrating the manor-church-village society that English people after World War I looked back to nostalgically as the pinnacle of their culture.But did the author really think that black-shirted bullies reform as soon as they are scolded, appeased with treasure and shown love and trust? That's a sweet pacifistic idea, but it smacks of exonerating the Fascists and blaming their victims. Was Goudge actually pro-Fascist? A lot of manor-loving English gentry were.Ultimately, I think this book is a nice read but not something that bears analysis.

Well received by my well read friend, she loves it.

Great reading for middle school.